g : : : ms = SS ne 
~ Vin pone ~: ete: mana enensnitiiendamat an 
Z Sa groan meceteneeae So 
nr arn ere panger—eetarenenmnetets ccnp cen ee amare Fe ene ART ET a Ane ON OE aS a TO OC RE SNe A a Ee ee ete oper ee 
: : ~ oieoceenenal ce nr a a 
SSS SRE a a 
= a a a a a a RS ee mn 
-s arenes ca eopeanee™ tle easement lepine mae Ne aT Oa RAPA e RE ANNETTE DO OES R AAA ALN COI NOTA TOA COAT ALE OE One ON See eng ommensigapatopon eee eerewen mane etapa 
eee == : ——- STS 
arenes — cca eeeeseeer STS = 
per terete : serene : ae Se ES 
aoe ; ee cee ee ae srecemeerees 
: me Semnereoe eaten 


— — = = <a os site 
= a =—2 foros} 
feos popereeenten=nysinene stererecemenshnnsote=sisusaoneerevinetsneneria-eiafetesases ty Sanya S 8a Te a csemnneerimpamen noemuneogmeeonl = ——- eee 
—= >>> SE degie “haart neeenennomas a mene em = 
SS a ae rtieee oy pemeepmremeentag, tare Sart saci acme en PN nee ane 
ee a eR peace neenaeereL Neb neanetm—resancrireinneeeneere, ah St jemepartneyre—ete SS Dm er tae arene nary nia arene pena a 
ra are ta nr a RNR ENGSN SATEEN. OH” hetlemeneete— net rmesineeentin— tmneameastrewet museninrteaaaeateine beer Senterenses twee nerattens ner te rier rn reres 
sss essen Avastin nny yemsnasaeeeencsneeseant is Pansenantnsness seer on Sew sees Poa cnaee ran semmenepsdbeammanpiecienaestnistnerionn oeoemeonigeieioneren ol | arn ek ar amag tera pee erage i Ps 
roan fhonenmnreoneerneteeinasrnanbtse ta reaaaaas eee veces aaa eSB SS net ne ner Saree nna es nS ONO Lae eA a en aeemronr onions actoneenene ation aaeoonra ony eNO 
= = a rg ec as eee oeoeneecsioes nm reresnenemne ea nase RET 
af — . og Rem reer erent = 
@ 7 < Te 
. Z at rt RT ITE OS OT 
as = ee as ——— = = 
6 SSS oa es — 
—— + SSS ome = = = 


: are ae ae on en 
eer ar nn cna a a ee 2 
a te : = : a = : 
aa Se ne pened Nn ean a aa aca ge TL ts aR geen eee ee Sn ee amen a ane aa na ee 
aS aE sei tianespnrernnn e e n (a a ne aac Rae en ne 
See Se : en oe See ESE 
ee ws Sineeee acy eee SS SSS SSS Se 
— “— - a a SESS ~ Ce art ns RO NT PORES SL AO NS Se nT 
= = SS OO 
eee = aS a ns oe eg TT EE 
sm SSS Ee EEE SSS 
: : ——. Se 


Ss eon 
ee —s = at epee mann nace rae ae MORE enema eran ane Taegecemen onrman for tpaoe ant) ae oare eegeE E a 
ener ~ name fiat Sao eee 
— = = — [SEES 
: awe Se oS ee a: 
— = ee aaa Bape = : e SS. 
ob : an ee a TO 
eS = SS care 
= Se : : : omer 
ree 2 et A ee TIERS | io mera 
: ag moe Dat 


See 
wen roel ate 





THE UNIVERSITY 
OF ILLINOIS 


LIBRARY 


SPAR 
NW SAL 















4 
ax f sioNiTH 40. ees 
> ie ea ee ee FHL 40 rata | 
emery a:  Auvualy ‘ 
4a ee 
vo ef’ .* ; aN $ s 
. ' 
} 
\ . 
4 
\ > 
4 | : " i 
& * hoe td 
7 Ue <a ) 
py 2% @ — 
; oe a TP fs 
be - a 
F : f i 7 : . re 
* “a q i 


. GERSHOM BRADFORD WESTON 


(About 53 years of age ) 





Su Menwriant 





HON. GERSHOM BRADFORD WESTON 


DEBORAH BROWNELL WESTON 


OF 


DUXBURY, MASSACHUSETTS 


Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2021 with funding from 
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 


https://archive.org/details/inmemoriammyfathOOwest 


tAaDA 
ors XK Ar 


> ty WR re he a 


IY water 7 ' 


Su Memorian 


MY FATHER AND MY MOTHER 


HON. GERSHOM BRADFORD WESTON 


DEBORAH BROWNELL WESTON 


OF 


DUXBURY, MASSACHUSETTS 


Memoirs of 


CAPT. EZRA WESTON (1) 
EZRA WESTON (II) 
GERSHOM BRADFORD WESTON 
ALDEN BRADFORD WESTON 
EZRA WESTON (IV) 

AND 
DEBORAH BROWNELL WESTON 


WESTON ARMORIAL BEARINGS AND DESCENT 


By 
EDMUND BROWNELL WESTON 


PROVIDENCE, R. I., 1916 


356299 


COPYRIGHT, 1916, 
BY 
EDMUND B. WESTON 


THIS BOOK IS FOR PRIVATE DISTRIBUTION ONLY 


‘Pretare 


The writing of this Memorial is mainly due to the rereading 
of some old letters that my mother wrote to me when I was in 
South America in the latter part of 1868, and in which was 
expressed the desire that when an opportunity offered I would 
write something in an endeavor to commemorate my father’s 
good deeds if it had not been done previously by another member 
of his family. 

In order to make the memoir of my father as complete as 
possible under the circumstances, I have included memoirs 
of his grandfather, his father and his two brothers, and I felt 
I could not complete my work without adding a memoir of my 
mother. 

The memoir of my father in particular, in order to have 
what I have written in accordance with facts, has necessitated 
much care and attention. Fortunately, my father was in the 
habit of talking with me from my early childhood about his 
past experiences and relative to the four firms, E. Weston, 
EK. Weston & Son, Ezra Weston and EK. Weston & Sons, and the 
recollections of these talks have materially helped me in my 
work. While I have several scrapbooks containing old news- 
paper clippings concerning my father’s public life, unfortunately 
the dates were rarely written on the clippings and I had to make 


many inquiries in connection with them. When I was about 


Preface 


eight years old, in looking through some manuscripts which 
were filed in my father’s library in Duxbury, I came across 
his autobiography, which, even at my early age, I found to 
be very interesting. Shortly after discovering the auto- 
biography I asked my mother about it and she informed me 
that the leading biographical publishers in the United States 
had asked my father for his autobiography and picture for 
publication and that he felt quite complimented by their 
request and wrote the autobiography. He then sent it to 
the publishers with his picture, but after they had received 
it they wrote to him to the effect that before publishing it 
they would ask him to send them a-check for a substantial 
amount. In those days my father, I feel sure, would not 
have minded the expenditure of the money, but he believed 
that he could not maintain his manly independence if he 
should send it, and I can fully appreciate his feelings in the 
matter, and, therefore, requested the publishers to return 
to him the autobiography and the picture, and it was never 
published. I am very sorry that my father felt the way he 
did as if the autobiography had been published it would have 
been of much interest to his family and friends and of great 
service to me in writing this Memorial; possibly my father 
did not have in mind at the time how more or less history is 
made. Both my mother and I endeavored to preserve the 
manuscript autobiography above referred to, but after my 
mother died I could not find it; it apparently was lost or 
destroyed during our moving in Duxbury or when my mother 
left Duxbury to reside in New Bedford. 

What I have written regarding my great- grandfather, 


grandfather and two uncles is, as will be noted, quite brief, 


li 


Preface 


but the information is all I could obtain after diligent search 
and inquiry. 

What I have written regarding my mother is practically 
from memory, as all of her near relatives have passed away, 
and while there are many people who have spoken to me 
in the highest praise of my mother’s personality they have 
not been able to give me particular information relating to 
the history of her early life. 

While the old records of the “ Lloyds” in London contain 
full accounts of the vessels belonging to the four Weston 
firms and the firms were extensively known in America and 
abroad in their time, there has not been very much published 
concerning them. I recall of having accidentally met a few 
years ago the author of one of the latest books pertaining to 
the early mercantile marine of the United States, which was 
then in course of preparation, and much to my surprise he 
did not have any particular knowledge relative to the Weston 
firms and I referred him to data regarding them, which he 
was very glad to have and which he put in his book. It is 
quite likely that the reason why more has not been published 
about the Weston firms is because their principal business was 
practically located and carried on in the relatively small 
country town of Duxbury, although they had counting rooms 
in Boston. The Old Colony Railroad was not completed 
between Boston and Plymouth until 1845, and even then 
Duxbury was about four miles from the nearest station on 
the road. Previous to 1845 practically the only means of 
travel between Duxbury and Boston was by horse relays on 
land and packets on water, and there was not any electric 


telegraphic service until years afterwards. The paramount 


ili 


Preface 


reason, in my opinion, why more has not been published 
about the Weston firms is that my great-grandfather and 
grandfather, while sterling business men and great marine 
merchants, were conservative in connection with their business 
affairs and preferred to keep them to themselves rather than 
to advertise them to the world. 

What I have written in regard to the Weston armorial 
bearings and descent was instigated by an apparent mis- 
understanding in the minds of more or less of our Weston 
family relative to the origin of the armorial bearings and the 
use which could be made of them by the family, and I have 
endeavored to explain the value of the armorial bearings in 
accordance with the accepted laws of heraldry. 

It will be noted that more or less of what I have written 
in this Memorial is in the first person, and my reason for 
so doing is that I felt I could express myself at times more 
clearly and comprehensively in the first person than in the 
third, especially where sentiment and personal experiences 
are involved. 

For considerable confirmatory and other information 
regarding my father’s memoir, I am indebted to the State 
Librarian, Secretary of State and Adjutant-General of 
Massachusetts. A Weston unpublished genealogy which was 
prepared by my two uncles, Ezra Weston (IV) and Alden 
Bradford Weston, and also several old pamphlets have been 
of valuable assistance to me in preparing this Memorial, 
as well as records which have been preserved concerning 
the business of the four Weston firms. I have taken a great 
deal of trouble in endeavoring to have the illustrations as 


perfect as possible. Those of my great-grandfather, Ezra 


iv 


Preface 


Weston (I), and grandfather, Ezra Weston (II), were repro- 
duced from old paintings and the others were reproduced 
from old daguerreotypes, old photographs and the latest 
photographs I could obtain. The dates on the illustrations 
probably in more than one instance are not exact, as the 
originals did not have dates on them and I had to estimate 
the dates from personal remembrances and from the _ best 
data I could obtain. 


EDMUND BROWNELL WESTON 


September, 1916. 





MEMOIR 
MrEMOIR 
MEMOIR 
MrEMOIR 


MEMOIR 





MEMOIR 


WESTON 


Onuteuts 


oF Capt. Ezra WeEsTOoN (1) 

oF Ezra Weston (II) 

or Hon. GrERSHOM BRADFORD WESTON 
oF ALDEN BRADFORD WESTON 

oF Ezra WrstTon (IV) . 

oF DEBORAH BROWNELL WESTON 


ARMORIAL BEARINGS AND DESCENT 


PaGE 


el 
ne) 
. 65 
come 
mee 
eo 





—BRARY 
OF THE: ee 
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 


Mlwstrations 


Paan 


Hon. GERSHOM BRADFORD WESTON... Frontispiece 
eT wet 7. RAee VV PESTON meee, be 2 i; OF oy oh ee 2, 
DwEeE.LiLinc Hovusk or Capt. Ezra Weston (I) 4 
Pome ON |) )peeeeeeneert es lg oe ele ee ID 
DweE.LuLinc House or Ezra Weston (II) . . . . . 12 
Hon. GERSHOM BRADFORD WESTON. .... . . 18 
Ca eee ary een 8. es es 20 
Sipe Outen va a ys 4. 22 
Hon. GERSHOM BRADFORD WESTON. . .. . . . 24 
SANDSTONE MONUMENT IN WESTON BurRiAL Lot. . . 34 
MEN ORADNORDEWHSTON fie ioe.) OG Oe eee. «. 64 
Ezra Weston (IV) ee ee Ree eer fe. 10 
DEBORAH BROWNELL WESTON AND EDMUND BROWNELL 
Nites CO hue ee ee Res erm Be Pe 74. 
DenORATY DROWNEDUAVWESTON] 9.2). 6 fee bot es 276 
DEBORAH BROWNELL WESTON OR a en Ce. 6 keener fe: 
DEBORAH BROWNELL WESTON 5 CE emma ts Ey oC OW 5S ae 


WESTON ARMORIAL BEARINGS Se i ee. SS 


Memoir of Capt. Ezra Weston (I) 


ss 








CAPT. EZRA WESTON (I) 


7 ”, MA Vel 


4 





Capt. Ezra Weston (I) 


Ship Carpenter and Builder, Marine Merchant and Soldier of the Revolution 


Ezra (1)—son of Eliphas—son of John—son of Edmund. 

Kzra Weston (I), son of Eliphas Weston and Priscilla 
Peterson, was born in Duxbury, Mass., July 24, 1743, and 
died there October 11, 1822. 

He was a stout and well-built man, light complexion, 
light hair and five feet eight or nine inches tall. 

“He lived on his farm of 100 acres at Powder Point in 
Duxbury, and was one of the most enterprising and wealthy 
men in the province. He was the largest shipbuilder and 
owner in the country, and was familiarly known as “ King 
Cesar.” He was the richest man in Plymouth county, and 
owned nearly half of the town of Duxbury, and did a great 
deal for that town, and was of course by far its most prominent 
man in all respects, a man of high sense of honor and integrity 
and beloved by all. He served in the revolution, in Captain 
Benjamin Wadsworth’s company (Second Duxbury), Colonel 
James Warren’s regiment, and answered the Lexington alarm, 
April 19, 1775; also in same company under Lieutenant 
Nathan Sampson and Colonel Thomas Lothrop, December 10, 
1776; and in Captain Allen’s company, Colonel Theophilus 


Capt. Ezra Weston (I) 


Cotton’s regiment, on a secret expedition to Rhode Island, 
September and October, 1777.’’* 

He married (first) April 20, 1767, Sylvia Church of Marsh- 
field, who died May 31, 1768; (second) October 25, 1770, 
Salumith Wadsworth, who died July 23, 1815; (third) July 4, 
1817, Priscilla Virgin of Plymouth, who was a widow at time 
of marriage and who died May, 1853 or 1855. Child of first 
wife: Sylvia Church, born May 18, 1768, died 1836; married 
Captain Sylvanus Sampson. Child of second wife: Ezra 
(II), born November 30, 1772, died August 15, 1842. 

He carried on business from 1764 to 1798 under the firm 
name of E. Weston. A description regarding the business of 
the four Weston firms, E. Weston, E. Weston & Son, Ezra 
Weston, and E. Weston & Sons, is given in the accompanying 
memoir of Gershom Bradford Weston. 

The remains of Ezra Weston (1) and his second wife were 
disinterred and are now buried near the granite monument 
erected by Alden Bradford Weston, his grandson, in the 
Weston burial lot in Mayflower Cemetery, Duxbury. 


KinG Casar. 


Ezra Weston (I) was given the sobriquet of ‘‘ King Cesar”’ 
by his townspeople, probably on account of his being a man 
of large affairs and a “leader among men.” From 1800 to 
1803 Ezra Weston (I) and other citizens of Duxbury wished 
to have the town build a bridge over Bluefish River, while a 
number of other citizens were opposed to its being done. 
It was finally decided to build the bridge, and on the Fourth of 





*Genealogical and Personal Memoirs. 





DWELLING HOUSE OF CAPT. EZRA WESTON (I) 


Built by him on his farm at Powder Point, Duxbury, Mass., about the year 1768. The 
house was totally destroyed by fire December 27, 1886. His son Ezra Weston 
(II) and his grandsons Gershom Bradford and Alden Bradford 
Weston were born in this house 


(The illustration shows house as in 1881 when in rather a dilapidated condition) 


¥ 
es id 
4) ee 
- — 
— ri 
ae 
, - 
. 
= 
Ja 
* 
Z 
1 
. 
% = 
t 
pA 
* 
~ 





% 
~ 


OF THE 


Libunal 
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOI 





ae a ’ uve cous 
: : * * 7. ta 
’ ; 4 ‘Te. S- 
7 4 
e ~ eke 
” a : 
\ oy t 7 . - 
: d Fe a) 
\ as, 
‘ ay ea ; 
. Se ie 
; " < \ re) 
‘\et 
‘ ie: 
. “. ; y 
7 a 
7 a 
~ 
ahaa 
r ve 
° - = 7 
w ®, 
> = 
yal is mas 
. : : 
= 
¢ 
; ; i 
rt 
4 A ; 
: a! 
E 
‘ Ae ioe 
oy 
‘ ie 


Capt. Ezra Weston (I) 


July, 1808, the bridge, having been completed, was formally 
dedicated. The bridge was decorated for the occasion and a 
temporary arch erected over it, on which was perched a broad- 
spread eagle of wood. In Winsor’s “History of Duxbury” 
there is an amusing account of some of the incidents connected 
with the erection of the bridge in which “King Cesar’’ is 


prominently mentioned, and is as follows:— 


“And it came to pass in the days of Cesar, the King, 
that he commanded his servant Joshua, saying, get thee 
up a journey into the land of the Hanoverites, to Benja- 
min, the Scribe, and say unto him, I, Caesar, the King, 
have sent forth my decree, and commanded that the people 
in the land of Sodom shall no longer be separated from 
the Westonites, the Drewites, and the Cushmanites, that 
dwell on the north side of the great river Bluefish. And 
also command Benjamin, the Scribe, that he forthwith 
make out a petition and convey it to the judges and magis- 
trates of our land, commanding that they straightway 
direct the Sodomites, the Westonites, and all the other ites, 
within our borders, to build a bridge over the great river © 
Bluefish. So the Judges and Magistrates, fearing Cesar, 
the King, and Joshua, his servant, commanded that the 
bridge be built according to Ceesar’s decree. But it came 
to pass that there arose up certain of the tribes of Judah 
and Levi and of Samuel, and of the Chandlerites, and others 
most learned in the law, and showed unto the Judges and 
Magistrates, that Cesar, the King, had done wickedly, 
in commanding what was unlawful to be done, and so by the 
voice of the multitude the decree was set aside. And it 
came to pass that Cesar and the Sodomites wrought the 
minds of the people, and cast such delusions before their 
eyes, that they had fear before Caesar, the King, and at 
length resolved to build the bridge, and connect Cesar’s 


dominions to the land of Sodom. And now behold Cesar, 


Capt. Ezra Weston (1) 


the King, has erected an arch fifty cubits high, on that 
bridge, which the people, in their folly, have built,—and 
set up an image on the top of the arch, and commanded 
all the people from the land of Sodom on the south, the 
Westonites and all the other tribes in the north to assemble 
on the fourth day of the seventh month, and bow their 
heads to the image which the King has set up. And behold 
the people assembled according to the King’s decree, and 
did as he had commanded.” 


SOMEWHAT ILLITERATE. 


In an interesting little book ‘‘ Historic Duxbury,” published 


a few years ago, it is related in regard to Ezra Weston (I) :— 


“He was one of the first to start the shipbuilding 
industry in the country, as his son was the largest one. 
Nevertheless, this King Cesar was very ignorant outside 
of his special vocation. In the course of his business, 
which was that of storekeeper in addition to his shipbuilding 
operations, he had occasion to spell ‘coffee,’ which he did 
without using a single letter of the word,—‘ kauphy.’ ” 


Without commenting on the questionable taste of pub- 
lishing the above in ‘‘Historiec Duxbury,” the author would 
say that it hardly appears probable that Ezra Weston (1), 
who was capable of designing and building vessels, was one 
of the leading merchants of his time and who was constantly 
bringing to America in his own vessels coffee from foreign 
countries and sold it in connection with his business, should 
not know how to spell coffee correctly, especially as there 
must have been many shipping documents and invoices men- 
tioning coffee frequently brought to his attention. Even 
if it is true that he was an exceedingly poor speller, his descend- 


ants may derive some satisfaction from knowing that it is 


Capt. Ezra Weston (I) 


notorious that the Duke of Wellington could not spell and that 
there were plenty of men of his mental caliber quite as illiterate. 
A number of years ago a list of names of distinguished French- 
men who could not spell was collected and the list was headed 
with Thiers, who, though not a genius, was certainly one of 
the cleverest men that ever lived; Thiers never managed 
to spell his native language, although, as a writer, he was 


correct enough. 


His BROTHER COMMANDED A PRIVATEER. 


Timothy Weston, a younger brother of Ezra Weston (I), 
commanded a privateer (schooner 100 tons) during the Revo- 
lutionary War and was lost with his vessel and all on board 
in the Bay of Fundy, while cruising there. He was born 
in 1749, and lived in Duxbury. It is not on record as to who 


owned and fitted out the privateer. 


EpMUND BROWNELL WESTON 


September, 1916. 





Memoir of Ezra Weston (II) 





c= 





EZRA WESTON (II) 





LIBRARY | 
OF THE ae ‘ 
CUNVERSITY OF RUNGIS 








' = 
. * J i 
' 
4 ; i 
= r ' “ 4 
‘ i] 
. 
’ . t 
. — . 
' 
1 7 i 
= a 7 + , 
4 vy 
* 

ae ¢ 
g ; 
F 1a 

~ ‘ 
a is = f r \ 
, s ie a ifs 
é ; L Vey f . - al 


“eZ -] tal 
' . = ie “fore ol Bee =a 
i 7 : > " ; ' a P 1 





P / 
, 
v ’ f 
~~ s 
ret 
a] 7 ie | 
a 
; é | 
> e 
4 
t 
be . 
Ld — 
< 
‘ : 
. ¥ 
T = 4 
fi ~ eS 7 
Me Le SS Vee f a ey 
+f Sow a = : P So 
‘ « 4 é an ‘YJ ‘e . 
pi , ‘ a yi s (_—- 
z 2 re a : =~: 





te, Pipa ir. ar ¥ 


Ezra Weston (II) 


One of the most Celebrated Marine Merchants of the Age in which 
he lived 


Ezra (11)—son of Ezra (1)—son of Eliphas—son of John— 
son of Edmund. 

Ezra Weston (II), son of Ezra Weston (I) and Salumith 
Wadsworth, was born in Duxbury, Mass., November 30, 1772, 
and died there August 15, 1842. 

He had a light complexion and light hair and was about 
five feet nine inches tall. 

He lived on his farm of 100 acres at Powder Point in Dux- 
bury, where his father lived. 

“‘Hizra Weston, the second of the name, and inheriting from 
his father the popular title of ‘King Cesar,’ was for the years 
1820 to 1842 probably the most widely known citizen of 
Duxbury, and was considered to be the largest shipowner in 
the United States. Daniel Webster so rated him in his great 
speech at Saratoga during the Harrison campaign of 1840. 
His ships were then to be seen in all parts of the world. He 
not only built his own vessels, but he controlled nearly all 
the branches of business connected with shipbuilding, and the 


ownership of vessels.’’* 





*Capt. John Bradford, in the “ Old Colony Memorial.” 


11 


Ezra Weston (II) 


He was taken into partnership by his father in 1798 under 
the firm name of E. Weston & Son. On the death of his 
father in 1822 he continued the business to 1842 under the 
firm name of Ezra Weston. A description regarding the 
business of the four Weston firms, E. Weston, E. Weston & 
Son, Ezra Weston, and E. Weston & Sons, is given in the 
accompanying memoir of Gershom Bradford Weston. 

He made one or more trading trips to the Carolinas as 
supercargo. 

“Tt was ‘Aunt Reeny’ Brewster who announced that the 
initials connected with the weather-vane surmounting the 
tall flag-staff on Powder Point, stood for ‘Ezra Weston’s 
New Ship.’’’* ) 

He was president of the Duxbury Bank from the year of 
its incorporation, 1833, to 1836, when his son, Gershom Brad- 
ford, succeeded him. 

In the War of 1812 he was a member of the Duxbury Sea 
Fencibles and a ‘Drag Rope Man” of gun No. 3. 

He was a Selectman of Duxbury in 1812 and 1818. 

He married, June 2, 17938, Jerusha Bradford, who was 
born January 30, 1770, and died October 11, 1833. His 
children were: 1. Maria, born December 3, 1794, died 
February 2, 1804; 2. Ezra, born October 3, 1796, died 
September 12, 1805; 3. Gershom Bradford, born August 27, 
1799, died September 14, 1869; 4. Jerusha Bradford, born 
August 9, 1802, died March 3, 1804; 5. Alden Bradford, 
born January 17, 1805, died June 1, 1880; 6. Ezra, born 
December 23, 1809, died September 6, 1852. 





*Capt. John Bradford, in the “Old Colony Memorial.” 


12 











DWELLING HOUSE OF EZRA WESTON (II) 


Built by him on the Weston Farm at Powder Point, Duxbury, Mass., in 1808. His son 
Ezra Weston (IV) was born in this house 






LIBRARY ir 
| OF THE mea os 7 
+ —OMNIVERSITY OF MUNOIS 


’ 


Pd 


. 
) 
e 
» 
““ <= 
4 hy 
os 
m4 
j ° 
is q 
s - q 4 





Ezra Weston (II) 


Ezra Weston (II) and his wife are buried in the tomb 
under the sandstone monument in the Weston burial lot in 


Mayflower Cemetery, Duxbury. 


SPEECH OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 


The following is an extract from a speech by Daniel Webster 
relating to a United States Bank, at a great mass meeting at 
Saratoga, N. Y., August 19, 1840, in which he referred to Ezra 
Weston (II) :— 


“There is, too, another class of our fellow-citizens, 
wealthy men, who have prospered during the last year; 
and they have prospered when nobody else has. I mean 
the owners of shipping. What is the reason ? Give me a 
reason. Well, I will give you one. The shipping of the 
country carries on the trade, the larger vessels being 
chiefly in the foreign trade. Now, why have these been 
successful ? I will answer by an example. I live on the 
sea-coast of New England, and one of my nearest neighbors 
is the largest ship-owner, probably, in the United States. 
During the past year, he has made what might suffice for 
two or three fortunes of moderate size; and how has he 
made it ? He sends his ships to Alabama, Louisiana, 
Mississippi, to take freights of cotton. This staple, what- 
ever may be the price abroad, cannot be suffered to rot 
at home; and therefore it is shipped. My friend tells 
his captain to provision his ship at Natchez, for instance, 
where he buys flour and stores in the currency of that 
region, which is so depreciated that he is able to sell his 
bills on Boston at forty-eight per cent. premium! Here, 
at once, it will be seen, he gets his provision for half price, 
because prices do not always rise suddenly, as money 
depreciates. He delivers his freight in Europe, and gets 
paid for it in good money. The disordered currency of 
the country to which he belongs does not follow ‘and 
afflict him abroad. He gets his freight in good money, 


13 


Ezra Weston (II) 


places it in the hands of his owner’s banker, who again 
draws at a premium for it. The ship-owner, then, makes 
money, when all others are suffering, because he can escape 
from the influence of the bad laws and bad currency of 
his own country.” 


DICK’S MONUMENT. 


The following was published in a Boston newspaper some 


years ago:— 


“Standing out in the mid-field at ‘Powder Point,’ 
Duxbury, the other day, my eye rested upon a neat red 
brick column, surmounted by a big brown sphere. What 
kind of a sun-dial is this? thought I. Judge of my 
surprise upon approaching it to read this inscription: 


‘We are all parts of one stupendous whole; 
Life is Nature, and God, the soul. 


Here Lies Buried 
Honest Dick. 


This noble horse served faithfully three 
Generations. 


Born on ‘Powder Point’—1817, 
Here lived and here died— 
1846.’ 


‘That,’ quoth the native, ‘why, that was King Cesar’s 
horse.’ 

‘And who was King Cesar ?’ 

He looked at me pityingly. ‘Ezra Weston,’ he said. 
‘He owned the biggest part of the navigation of the United 


14 


Ezra Weston (II) 


States once; nobody had so many ships afloat as he. That 
was why they christened him King Cesar. He set his 
life by that horse, an’ when he was buried himself he 
wanted just the same pattern monument over his grave. 
So there it is up in the town cemetery, only it’s stone, and 


re 


not brick. 


It can be stated in further explanation that Dick’s principal 
occupation during his long and useful life was in furnishing 
power in the Westons’ ropewalk; he was harnessed, in the 
cellar, to a long bar connected by a central upright ‘“‘drum”’ 
with the heavy machinery above, and.walked round and 
round in a circle, thus supplying the needed power. The 


“native” was Ezra Weston 


“King Cesar’ referred to by the 
(II), who inherited from his father, Ezra Weston (I), the 
popular title of “King Cesar,’ and the monument to Dick 
was erected by Ezra Weston (IV), son of Ezra Weston (II). 
The monument in the town cemetery referred to was built by 
Alden Bradford Weston, grandson of Ezra Weston (I) and son 
of Ezra Weston (II), as his own family monument and in 


commemoration of Ezra Weston (I). 


_EpmMunbD BROWNELL WESTON 


September, 1916 


15 





Memoir of 
Hon. Gershom Bradford Weston 








HON. GERSHOM BRADFORD WESTON 


(About 48 years of age) 


Se 
a” : -_ 
ay ee, 
{ i. 
‘ ie - 
; a 
A» or 
. 
4 
s 
“ 


_ LIBRARY 


OFTHE 
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 


RI = 








Hon. Gershom Bradford Weston 


Marine Merchant and Public Citizen 


Gershom Bradford—son of Ezra (II)—son of Ezra (I)— 
son of Eliphas—son of John—son of Edmund. 

Gershom Bradford Weston, son of Ezra Weston (II) and 
Jerusha Bradford, was born in Duxbury, Mass., August 27, 
1799, and died there September 14, 1869. 

On his mother’s side, he was a descendant, in the seventh 
generation, of William Bradford, second Governor of Plymouth 
Colony. | 

He had a light complexion and red hair and was a large 


man, weighing about two hundred and fifty-five pounds. 


SCHOOL DAYS. 


In his early youth he attended the public and private 
schools of his native town, then for two years he was under the 
charge of Rev. Mr. Norton of Weymouth and Rev. Morrill 
Allen of Pembroke, and finally he spent two years at school in 


Boston. 


EARLY BUSINESS CAREER. 


In early life he, by often visiting the vessels belonging to 


his grandfather and father, as they returned from foreign 


19 


Gershom Bradford Weston 


ports laden with rich products of other climes, imbibed a 
strong desire for a sea-faring life. His father, seeing him 
bent on trying his fortune on the mighty deep, found him a 
berth i one of his own ships as captain’s clerk, bound to a 
port in Denmark. When he sailed on this voyage he was 
seventeen years old. Still persisting in a determination to 
follow the sea, he engaged subsequently as second officer on 
board one of his father’s vessels bound to London, England, 
and still later, in the same capacity, he visited Calcutta, 
India. At the close of his third voyage, he entered the employ 
of his grandfather and father, E. Weston & Son, and soon 
after he became his father’s general ‘“out-door” assistant in 
connection with building ships, managing the farm and attend- 


ing to other portions of the firm’s business. 


ADMITTED TO PARTNERSHIP WITH FATHER. 


In 1842 he was admitted to partnership with his father, 
together with his brothers, Alden and Ezra (IV), in Duxbury 
and Boston, the firm name being changed from Ezra Weston 
to EK. Weston & Sons. They continued in business until 
December 31, 1857, when the firm dissolved. 


THE FOUR WESTON FIRMS. 


The business of E. Weston, E. Weston & Son, Ezra Weston 
and EK. Weston & Sons, of Duxbury and Boston, was carried 
on successfully for about a century, from father to son. Their 
vessels were always rated Al, and to say that a vessel was 
built in Duxbury and owned by the Westons silenced and 
satisfied all criticisms or inquiries. Their vessels sailed and 


their sails whitened every known ocean and sea on the globe, 


20 


ofgi ul AYN], JO uvzNS oy} Aq ponsst ,, URWIL],, 
B JopuN vIOWILPY JO VIC pUe SaT[URpIeG 94} YSnoy, vag yory_ oY} OUI Sey sozeyS poyuy~, Ares 0} Jassaa 
JSI SVM fsUO} COI fsUOS 2M UOJSOAMA “Y AQ SpIVMJOIJV pu Way] Aq PoUMO pu UOJSOM, LAZY Jo WAY oy} Aq Szgr ur “ssepy ‘AInqxnqd ur yINg 


VNUYAWS OLA 













UIBKADY ar, 


OF THE 
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS © 


. ~a 4 
; ¢ fl 


Gershom Bradford Weston 


and carried the Stars and Stripes into all the principal maritime 
ports of the world, where the names of E. Weston, E. Weston 
& Son, Ezra Weston and KE. Weston & Sons were familiarly 
known and their credit unlimited. In 1820 E. Weston & 
Son were probably the largest ship owners in the United States, 
and it has been stated that in 1842 the “ Lloyds,’’ London, 
England, had E. Weston & Sons registered as the largest 
ship owners in the world. Ezra Weston’s brig ‘‘Smyrna”’ 
was the first vessel to carry the United States flag into the 
Black Sea through the Dardanelles and Sea of Marmora 
under a ‘‘Firman”’ issued by the Sultan of Turkey in 1830. 
His celebrated ship Hope, 881 tons, was, when she was launched 
in 1841, the largest merchant vessel in New England, and on 
her first arrival at Liverpool, England, she attracted a great 
deal of attention on account of her large size. 

The first shipyard of E. Weston & Son was at ‘“ Harden 
Hill,’ Duxbury, and was familiarly called the ‘‘Navy Yard”’ 
on account of the large size of the vessels built there. They 
afterwards established one of the finest ship-building plants 
in Massachusetts, consisting of a shipyard of ten acres and a 
wharf on Bluefish River and a ropewalk, a quarter of a mile in 
length, a spar yard and a sail loft on their farm at Powder 
Point, Duxbury, as well as a wharf with five large buildings 
on their water front on Duxbury Bay. The Weston firms 
brought their timber and lumber from Haverhill and Bangor 
in their own schooners, or from Bridgewater and Middleboro 
with their own ox or horse teams, and their supplies from 
Boston in their own packets. They built all their vessels 
and made the spars, rigging and sails, and when their vessels 


left their wharfs in Duxbury they were ready to proceed on a 


al 


Gershom Bradford Weston 


voyage. They frequently had three or four, and sometimes 
five, vessels on the stocks at once. They employed one 
hundred mechanics and paid for labor alone, in the town, 
$120,000 annually, and did more than $1,000,000 worth of 
business in a year. They also conducted a large country 
store, from which they paid their many workmen, there being 
very little, if any, money in circulation. Their salt came 
from Cadiz, St. Ubes, and Turk’s Island in their own brigs. 
They sent their schooners to the Grand Banks for fish in the 
summer time and ‘‘out south” in the winter for corn. 

Ezra Weston carried on an extensive farm several miles 
inland towards Pembroke, where he raised a large part of the 
vegetables and the beef and pork used on board his vessels. 

During the War of 1812, mainly on account of foreign 
depredation on American marine commerce, E. Weston & 
Son established a cotton factory at Millbrook, Duxbury, which 
they afterwards converted into a nail and tack factory. Water 
was used for power, which was derived from the pond from which 
Duxbury now obtains its supply of potable water. 

The four Weston firms owned and built from 1800 to 1846, 
inclusive, 97 vessels; namely, 21 ships ranging from 246 to 
881 tons, 1 bark 209 tons, 30 brigs ranging from 120 to 240 
tons, 35 schooners ranging from 20 to 120 tons, and 10 sloops 
ranging from 50 to 63 tons. The total tonnage of the 97 
vessels was about 16,700 tons and, based on general marine 
construction prices of the ‘olden time,” it may be roughly 
estimated that the cost of building the 97 vessels was about 
$1,421,000. 

The house flag of the four Weston firms consisted of three 


horizontal stripes, red, white and blue. 


22 


SUO} Ig fSUOG F uojsaMy “Y Aq SpIvMio}Je pue Woy} Aq poUMO puP UOJSaM BIZY JO IY oY} Aq IPgr—obgi ut “ssepY ‘Ainqxnq ur WME 


AdOH dIHs 











+ 








5) UBRARYTS army ep ae 
> OF FE 7-2 30 ce ee 
‘UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 





Gershom Bradford Weston 


The names of the partners of each of the four Weston 
firms and the length of time that each firm carried on business 
were :— 

E. Weston, 1764-1798, 34 years; Ezra (1). 

E. Weston & Son, 1798-1822, 24 years; Ezra (I) and 
Ezra (II). 

Ezra Weston, 1822-1842, 20 years; Ezra (II). 

E. Weston & Sons, 1842-1857, 15 years; Ezra (II), 
several months in 1842; Gershom, Alden, and 
Ezra (IV), 1842-1852, about 10 years; Gershom 
and Alden, 1852-1857, about 5 years. 

Their last office in Boston was at Nos. 37 and 38 Com- 


mercial Wharf. 


PRESIDENT OF DuxBuRY BANK, ETC. 


Gershom Bradford Weston was President of the Duxbury 
State Bank from 1836 to 1842, when it was discontinued. 

He was a Director of the Equitable Safety Marine and Fire 
Insurance Company of Boston from 1850 to 1858. 


OLD COLONY AND SOUTH SHORE RAILROADS. 


He was asked to become the President of the Old Colony 
Railroad in its early days, with the understanding that he 
should purchase about $50,000 worth of the stock of the road, 
but he did not deem it advisable to do this. The Massa- 
chusetts Legislature, in 1846, granted him and several others a 
charter to build the South Shore Railroad, ‘‘along the shore,” 
from Duxbury to Boston (to connect at Quincey with the Old 


Colony Railroad running into Boston). He was the chairman 


23 


Gershom Bradford Weston 


of the Executive Committee of the proposed South Shore 
road and expended much time and energy in connection with 
it. The road, however, was not built as the Old Colony 
road that was completed in 1845 appeared to be able to handle 


the business of the ‘‘shore towns.” 


PUBLIC LIFE. 


In politics, he was a Republican during his later years, 
He joined the Republican Party when it was first formed; 
previous to that time he was a “Free-Soiler” and earlier a 
“Whig.” To promote the interests of the party with which 
he was identified he liberally contributed his time and property 
when needed. 

At the age of twenty-eight years he was chosen by the 
Town of Duxbury as its representative to the Legislature, 
and for twelve successive years was either a member of the 
House or Senate (House, 1828 to 1831, inclusive; Senate, 
1832 and 1833, and House, 1834 to 1839, inclusive), and 
during the twelve years he served on leading committees 
and was chairman of the most important of them for eleven 
years; he was a member of the Governor’s Council in 1852, 
a member of the Constitutional Convention in 1853, a delegate 
to the National Republican Convention in 1856 which nomi- 
nated John C. Fremont for President, a delegate to the 
National Republican Convention in 1860 which nominated 
Abraham Lincoln for President, appointed Draft Commis- 
sioner of Plymouth County in 1862, Deputy Collector of 
Internal Revenue for First District of Massachusetts in 1863 
and 1864, appointed Special Hoosac Tunnel Award Com- 
missioner in 1866, and a member of the Massachusetts Senate 
again in 1868 and 1869. 


24 





HON. GERSHOM BRADFORD WESTON 


(About 62 years of age 
? a 


OF THE 
“UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 





Gershom Bradford Weston 


For more than thirty years he attended the conventions of 
his political party for the nomination of state and national 
officers, and thus he formed acquaintance with distinguished 
men from all parts of the country. He was a Justice of the 
Peace for the County of Plymouth thirty-nine years and for 
the whole state seventeen years. For many years the citizens 
of Duxbury chose him to preside at their annual town meetings 
and as a member of the School Committee, and he also filled 
other town offices. 

In 1852, during the brief existence of the Free Soil Party 
and before the birth of the Republican Party, he was the 
Free Soil candidate for Congress for the Second District of 
Massachusetts. It was not anticipated that the Free Soil 
candidate would be elected as the Whig Party had long been 
in the habit of carrying all before it. It was, therefore, a 
great surprise to learn at the conclusion of the counting of 
the ballots that he had only lost the election by less than 150 
votes. 

During the first part of President Lincoln’s administration, 
in 1861, he was asked if he would accept the appointment as 
our Minister to Austria, but, mainly on account of it appearing 
that the annual salary of $12,000 would not be sufficient to 
cover the expenses which would probably be necessary to 
customarily and creditably maintain the position, he declined. 

Among my father’s personal friends were Senator and 
Vice President Henry Wilson, Senator Charles Sumner and 
Governor John A. Andrew, and I can just recall, when Senator 
Sumner was brutally assaulted in the senate-chamber in 
Washington in 1856, how my father, immediately after he 
learned of the outrage, went on to Washington to offer his 


sympathy. 


25 


Gershom Bradford Weston 


Criv1L WAR. 


He dearly loved his native Town of Duxbury and _ her 
interests were ever his interests. His devotion to the old flag, 
which to the last was his joy and pride, was unlimited and 
came directly from his heart; no better example of this can 
be mentioned than his patriotic efforts during the unhappy 
Civil War, 1861 to 1865. 


It is written, my son, in the stories, 
That a white-haired Colonial dame 
Whose eyes were bedimmed with the weeping 
For sons who in battle were slain, 
Stitched her love and her trust and her anguish, 
Stitched her hope and her fears and her pride, 
In the tri-colored flag of our country, 
Which, pray God, may forever abide. 


And it’s said, too, by students of history, 
That the story is naught but a tale, 
That no Betsy Ross ever existed, 

And they laugh at the story and rail, 
But I say to you, son, there’s the banner— 
And it matters no whit what they say, 
And it matters no whit who designed it, 
It is ours, and it’s up there to stay. 


It was a great disappointment to him, owing to poor health 
and advanced age, that he could not enlist on the call of Presi- 
dent Lincoln for volunteers. His disappointment was some- 
what alleviated, however, as two of his sons enlisted, one in 
the navy and one in the army, at the outbreak of the war. 
He constantly labored during the war, in order to prevent any 
of the citizens of Duxbury from being drafted, to have the 
quota of men called for from Duxbury filled by volunteers or 
to raise funds for the purchase of substitutes. During the 


26 


Gershom Bradford Weston 


war he was instrumental in having a great many ‘‘war meet- 
ings” held in different parts of the town, when he did his best 
by making stirring and patriotic speeches to create enthusiasm 
and bring about the results desired. At times he greatly 
impaired his health in going back and forth to the ‘‘war meet- 
ing” in snowstorms and other inclement weather and in making 
speeches when he was not physically able to do so. The 
energetic endeavors on his part undoubtedly had a vast influ- 
ence in reducing to a minimum the number of citizens drafted 
from Duxbury. His addresses made at the reception of the 
Duxbury volunteers on their return from the war and on 
other patriotic occasions were inspiring and much appreciated. 
He was ever in the lead in striving to have the town pay 
bounties to its volunteers. When the town voted a $100 
bounty to each of its ‘‘Nine Months’ Volunteers,” there 
being some doubt about the legality of the town’s taking such 
action, he and other patriotic citizens of Duxbury gave their 
individual security by endorsing the town notes. While 
the Duxbury Volunteers were in the field he personally sent 
them, when possible, at Christmas or Thanksgiving, boxes of 
appetizing homemade mince pies and other delicacies... He 
exerted himself in many other ways in endeavoring to lighten 
the sorrow of those whose dear ones were fighting for their 
country, and the following from a newspaper printed during 
the war can be taken as a criterion :— 


“Hon. G. B. Weston has secured, after many difficulties, 
and had embalmed, the body of young Paulding, of Duxbury, 
who was ‘only a private.’ In a few days his friends and 
fellow citizens will receive his remains in his old home to 
pay their tribute of respect and drop the silent tear over 
the brave departed, lay him where the widow and orphan 
may visit his final resting place, and his body sleep ’mid 
the graves of his fathers.”’ 


27 


Gershom Bradford Weston 


CHARITABLE AND HOSPITABLE. 


He was truly a friend of the poor, and in his prosperous 
days his house and heart were always open to their wants; 
his hospitality was unbounded and numberless were the 
blessings he bestowed on all around. He was a cordial friend 
and a not indifferent enemy, and if he had had many more 
faults than he had his generous and unostentatious charity 


would have covered them all. 


‘““* HE HAS no enemies,’ you say: 
My friend, your boast is poor, 
He who hath mingled in the fray 
Of duty, that the brave endure, 
Must have made foes. If he has none, 
Small is the work that he has done; 
He has hit no traitor on the hip; 
He has cast no cup from perjured lip; 
He has never turned the wrong to right; 
He has been a coward in the fight.” 


DOMESTIC MAN AND KIND HUSBAND AND FATHER. 


CHURCH 


He was particularly a home man and was fond of reading 
standard works, and in his prosperous days he acquired a 
library of considerable value. He was a devoted husband and 
a kind and generous father. Those of his sons that required 
financial assistance in their business careers, he generously 
assisted to the extent of his ability, and he exerted his influence 


in helping his other sons to obtain positions. 


ATTENDANCE. 


He attended the Unitarian Church in his early manhood, 
was much interested in the teachings of Theodore Parker and 
attended the Wesleyan Methodist Church in Duxbury the 
latter part of his life. 


28 


Gershom Bradford Weston 


TEMPERANCE MAN. 


He became a total abstinence man in 1842 and he labored 
in the cause of temperance reform from that time, and he was 
interested in many different organizations for the reformation 
and salvation of the fallen. He was also very much interested 
in the formation of the Duxbury Martha Washington Relief 
Society in 1842 and in its continuance; the Society had for its 
object the promotion of charity and temperance. He often 


lectured on the subject of temperance. 


CAPABLE SPEAKER. 


He was a capable speaker and a good debater and at his 
best on extemporaneous occasions. One of his best endeavors, 
he seemed to think, was a speech which he made in the Massa- 
chusetts Constitutional Convention in 1853 in favor of each 
town, however small its population, continuing to send one 
representative to the Legislature. The late Governor George 
S. Boutwell in his ‘‘Reminiscences” states that the Consti- 
tutional Convention of 1853 consisted of the ablest body of 
men that ever met in Massachusetts; Nathaniel P. Banks 
was the presiding officer, and among men of prominence who 
were members of the Convention were Robert Rantoul, Rufus 
Choate, Charles Sumner, George 8. Boutwell, Henry Wilson, 


Caleb Cushing and Benjamin IF’. Butler. 


FREEMASON. 


In the earlier days it was customary for those who followed 
the sea to become Freemasons. He was made a Mason when. 


he was a young man and he always kept up his interest in 


29 


FISHING 


Gershom Bradford Weston 


Freemasonry, and on more than one occasion he was called 
on to deliver addresses on the subject in Duxbury and adjoining 
towns. He was a member of the Mattakeesett Lodge of 


Duxbury. 


AND HUNTING. 


He was fond of fishing and hunting water fowl and shore 
birds. E. Weston & Sons owned a schooner yacht of 24 tons, 


) 


the ‘‘ Mayflower,” with which he occasionally entertained his 
friends by taking them on fishing trips and during which 
fish or clam chowder dinners were served. In the late fifties 
and early sixties he had a boathouse at the Old Cove and kept 
there two large spritsail boats, an ice gunning-boat, and a 
tender. He had a first-class assortment of guns, fishing 
tackle and other necessary equipment, wooden goose and coot 
decoys and quite a number of live geese and ducks for decoying 


purposes. 


TROUBLE WITH EYES. 


His eyes troubled him from his boyhood days, and during 
the last two or three years of his life quite severely. The 
original cause was owing to his having had the measles when 
he was about fifteen years old while boarding in Boston. His 
landlady, who was a kindly and attentive woman, did not 
know what the trouble was when he first became ill and did 
not darken his bedroom, but she immediately sent word to his 
mother in Duxbury. His mother, however, did not reach his 


bedside until three days had elapsed as it was before the days 


of railroads and telegraphs. After his mother arrived his 


bedroom was at once darkened and under her care he recovered 


30 


HEALTH. 


ALWAYS 


Gershom Bradford Weston 


in due course, but the light, during the days when his room was 
not darkened, had injured his eyes permanently, and he after- 
wards had to wear dark-colored glasses in the open and strong 
uncolored glasses indoors and for reading. 

Before the Old Colony Railroad between Boston. and 
Plymouth was built (1845), the members of the Weston firms 
and their families generally traveled back and forth to Boston 
on horseback or with a horse and chaise or sulky, and they 


kept relay horses at the old Hanover “half-way house.” 


He injured his health from exposure in 1846, from which he 
never fully recovered, when he was Chairman of the Executive 
Committee of the proposed South Shore Railroad as he per- 
sonally took a great deal of interest in the preliminary surveys, 
etc., and was more or less up and down the line in all kinds of 


weather. 


RESIDED IN DUXBURY. 


He lived with his father on Powder Point, Duxbury, until 
his marriage in 1820, when he went to live in a house which he 
had purchased with 380 acres of land fronting on the north side 
of Harmony Street, Duxbury. He made more or less improve- 
ments in connection with this house to suit his convenience, 
and in it all of his children but the three youngest were born. 
He converted the 30 acres of land into a beautiful estate by 
grading, laying out avenues and walks, planting and setting 
out many ornamental and fruit trees and vines, a great deal 
of shrubbery, and an abundance of flowers and erecting rustic 


arbors. He built on the estate, about 1840, a mansion having 


31 


Gershom Bradford Weston 


all modern improvements, two large barns, outbuildings, hot 
houses and ice houses. He lived in this mansion until 1850, 
when it was, with its contents, valued at about $50,000, com- 
pletely destroyed by fire. He then moved to Boston and 
resided there for about five years in a house at the corner 
of Boylston and Church streets and which is now part of the 
Thorndyke Hotel; he did not, however, relinquish his Duxbury 
citizenship while living in Boston. In the meantime he built 
in Duxbury another mansion, in which he resided until 1867. 
Then, owing to financial reverses he was obliged to move from 
his magnificent estate, which he had commenced to lay out in 
early manhood and had taken great pride in improving in 
after years, into a small house on an adjacent tract of land 
which the owner rented to him. He lived in this house a 
little over a year, when the owner notified him that owing to 
it being necessary for him to give up his business in Boston he 
wished to occupy the house himself or to sell it. At the time 
he did not have the requisite amount of money to purchase the 
property nor did he think of any immediate possibility of 
obtaining it, and the worry in connection with the matter 
added greatly to his already poor health. He was a member 
of the Massachusetts Senate at the time, 1868, and one of 
the senators, who was a sincere friend and wealthy man, when 
he learned in regard to his anxiety about the house, arranged 
with other friends in the Senate to contribute the necessary 
amount for the purchase of the house and land, which they 


presented to his wife.* 





*The author has been endeavoring for a number of years to find a way to personally 
refund to the legal heirs of the senators the amounts contributed, but as yet he has 
been unable to do so, as he has found it impossible to obtain a list of the amounts 


subscribed. 


32 


Gershom Bradford Weston 


HIs LAST DAYS. 


During the first part of 1869 the condition of his health 
became serious and did not improve after the adjournment 
of the Senate in June and it gradually grew worse and he 
died in Duxbury on September 14, 1869. While in his last 
days he was reconciled to circumstances, greatly owing to 
the devotion of his loving and self-sacrificing wife, Deborah 
Brownell Weston, and the sympathy of his family and kind 
friends and neighbors, it was pathetic that as his end was 
drawing near he could look out from the windows of the house 
in which he then lived upon his once magnificent estate, hardly 
a stone’s throw away, which he had acquired and embellished 
during his prosperous years. 

He was much pleased and gratified on his being elected to 
the Massachusetts Senate again, for the years 1868 and 1869, 
and it came as a balm in his last years. He liked his associates 
in the Senate, one and all. At the opening of the Senate in 
1868 he was called upon to preside, as he was the senior member 


and in connection with it he wrote to his wife:— 


“Today I called the Senate to order—in a political 
view—the proudest day of my life in my declining years.” 


In a letter dated November 7, 1869, his wife wrote to 
their son, the author, who was in Holland, the following :— 


“The hope that your father is in a world ‘where the 
wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at. rest’ 
is the greatest comfort to me. ‘Come unto me all ye, 
that are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest,’ 
I often repeated to your father, and every night he would 
say ‘we will say our prayers,’ and I would repeat the 
Lord’s Prayer ‘Our Father who art in heaven’ and ‘Now 
I lay me down to sleep.’ He said he would lke to live 
but if it was God’s will he was reconciled to go.” 


33 


FAMILY. 


Gershom Bradford Weston 


He was buried with Masonie rites in the tomb under the 
sandstone monument in the Weston burial lot in Mayflower 
Cemetery, Duxbury. <A delegation of Senators, his former 


colleagues, was present at the funeral. 


He married (first) September 20, 1820, Judith Sprague, 
born in Duxbury, Mass., April 25, 1799, died November 25, 
1845; (second) February 23, 1848, Deborah Brownell, born in 
Little Compton, R. I., August 1, 1822, died July 12, 1907. 
Children of first wife: 1. Gershom Bradford, born October 
25, 1821, died April 15, 1887; 2. Maria, born December 16, 
1822, died May 30, 1823; 3. Jerusha Bradford, born March 15, 
1824, died December 8, 1824; 4. John Allyn, born November 
3, 1825, died May 12, 1869; 5. George Canning, born March 
28, 1828, died January 18, 1856; 6. William Bradford, born 
June 20, 1830, died June 19, 1915; 7. Edgar, born August 31, 
1832, died October 31, 1851; 8. Jerusha Bradford, born 
December 19, 1834; 9. Alfred, born January 11, 1837; 
10. Maria, born June 3, 1839, died January 21, 1916; 
11. Alden Bradford, born November 25, 1844. Children 
of second wife: 1. Edmund Brownell, born March 25, 
1849; 2. Ezra, born July 31, 1859, died September 11, 1859. 


TRIBUTE BY A FRIEND. 


The following is a copy of a memorial tribute to the Hon. 
Gershom B. Weston by a former Legislative associate, published 


in January, 1870:— 


34 





SANDSTONE MONUMENT OVER TOMB IN WESTON BURIAL LOT 
IN MAYFLOWER CEMETERY, DUXBURY, MASS. 


Py 
oO 
ae 
a 
ue 

. o> 
> 
= 

a 
a 
ui 
i 
= 
=a 





Gershom Bradford Weston 


“At the assembling of the Massachusetts Legislature 
a few days since, the remarks of President Coolidge relative 
to the decease of Hon. Gershom B. Weston, who for the past 
two years has represented this district in the Senate, were 
so opportune and truthful that we ask leave to quote them 
with a hearty endorsement of their sentiments: 


‘As I look about this Board I see many new 
and kindly faces, friends yet to be that have taken 
the places of friends of the past. One friend has 
gone from us forever. The senior member of the 
last Senate; one who gave his youth, his manhood, 
and his old age to the service of the State. He 
rests by the side of the ‘much sounding sea’ in 
the county with which his name is _ identified. 
Who that met him in these halls can forget his 
gentlemanly courtesy, his devotion to the State, 
his honest and sturdy independence, his firmness in 
his own views, and the respect he always showed 
to the opinions of others. His legislative career 
may teach those who knew him many a lesson.’ 


With an acquaintance with the course of Mr. Weston as 
a citizen, and in the arena of politics for many years, we 
can readily appreciate the justice of this tribute to his 
character and worth. Identifying himself at its formation 
with that party which in 1848 reared the standard inscribed 
‘Free Soil, Free Speech, Free Labor, and Free Men,’ he 
continued in the support of these ideas until the close of 
an earnest and eventful life. 

In the advocacy of what he deemed the best methods 
of advancing the Temperance reformation, he never faltered; 
and while the power was given him, the suffering or needy 
found him with a sympathizing heart and a helping hand. 

Associated with him for a time in the performance 
of Legislative duties, in the occasional conference or com- 
panionship, we were led to respect and honor him the more. 
Through cares, perplexities and trials, more than ordinarily 
falling to the lot of man, and during a protracted and 
painful illness, he maintained the reputation, than which 
none can earn a better, of a true man. 


Rts) 


Gershom Bradford Weston 


How many of his fellow citizens will cherish his memory 
and recall his kindly words and deeds. As we stood that 
beautiful September day, in the calm and peaceful grove 
which he had so loved to adorn, and witnessed the devotion 
with which his earnest friends, and brothers of the mystic 
tie performed their last offices of respect, we recalled the 
many manly words and deeds for which he will long be 
kept in memory, and with a remembrance of the worthy 
surrounding, we felt with the poet that it was for him to 


‘Sleep in peace with kindred ashes 
Of the valiant and the true; 

Hands that never failed their country, 
Hearts that baseness never knew.’ ” 


PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 


As recollections often bring out more clearly and truthfully 
the human side of the natures and lives of those who have 
passed away, I give below some personal recollections of 
my father, the Hon. Gershom Bradford Weston. These 
recollections cover a period from my early childhood until I 
was slightly over eighteen years old, when, on July 10, 1867, 
I sailed from America on a long voyage and did not return 
until November 25, 1869, about two months after my father’s 
death. The majority of the recollections are based on incidents 


during my father’s prosperous days. 


STEALING MOLASSES. 


When I was about three or four years old my father used 
to tell me, among other stories, about. little boys. stealing 
molasses from barrels on their wharf in Boston after they 
had been unloaded from vessels that had returned from the 
“West Indies.” He said a boy obtained the molasses by 


36 


Gershom Bradford Weston 


shoving a small, smooth, round stick of convenient length 
through the bunghole of a barrel and then pulling the stick 
out of the barrel quickly and drawing it, covered with the 
molasses, between his lips. This story interested me very 
much and my father took me down to the wharf one afternoon, 
but, alas, all there was to be seen at that time were the barrels 


as the boys were not in evidence. 


EARLY HISTORY. 


My father taught me during my trundle-bed days a good 
deal about the early history of America and Plymouth Colony. 
The knowledge was imparted while we were in bed and soon 
after we awoke in the morning. His procedure was to ask 
me questions such as ‘‘Who discovered America”’ and ‘‘When 
did the Pilgrims land at Plymouth” and many others of a 
similar character, and if I did not know how to reply correctly 
he would tell me the answers. Previous lessons were frequently 
reviewed in order to keep them in my memory. ‘This instruc- 
tion regarding history was kept up with pleasure to both my 
father and me until I outgrew my trundle-bed and moved to 
a room of my own, but I fear that it was not always agreeable 


to my mother, whose morning naps were often interrupted. 


MAY BASKETS. 


I can recall the pleasure I had when a child in hanging 
May baskets for my father. This was generally suggested 
to me by my mother at the right time, and one of the family 
made very pretty paper baskets for me. I put into a basket 
a bunch of wild violets that I picked and a stick of candy 


which I bought with a cent that my mother gave me. I 


37 


Gershom Bradford Weston 


hung the basket on the knob of the west door of the house, 
pulled the door bell violently and then rushed around the 
front of the house and went in by the east door, and to my 
delight, at the time, I did not get caught, although in entering 
the house at the east door I was so excited that I must have 
made as much noise as a “ young hurricane,” and probably 
nearly everybody in the house knew what was going on. 
Very soon after I got in I was summoned to my father in his 
library, and my mother was there as well, and he gravely told 
me that he had received a May basket and shared the stick 
of candy with my mother and me. 


POCKET MONRY. 


In my boyhood days my father, notwithstanding that 
he was a very generous man, rarely gave me money offhand 
to spend, although he often gave me small sums to put into 
the bank. 

As I was his youngest child, I inherited the use and control 
of a donkey and cart, and at times in the spring I rented the 
donkey and cart at ten cents a day to a few people that culti- 
vated small gardens. In the summer I also rented the donkey 
and cart to the children of Duxbury summer visitors at a rate 
of from ten to twenty-five cents a day. My father also used 
to pay me for donkey loads of rock weed, which I used to pull 
off the rocks on the Powder Point shore at low water. He 
also would buy from me, for feeding his pigs, horseshoe crabs, 
which I generally caught at flood tide, and he gave me a little 
flat-bottomed boat for my expeditions after horseshoe crabs 
and for pleasure. He also allowed me every spring a very 


small plot of land for a garden, which I occasionally took 


38 


WAR OF 


Gershom Bradford Weston 


advantage of by planting radishes, peas and pop corn. As 
I recall, however, generally more seemingly important matters 
than tending to the garden occupied my attention after the 
radishes had matured. As I grew older, he let me keep a 
few hens, and I raised chickens which I sold to peddlers. My 
chicken farming was relatively a financial success as I did not 
have to pay for the food for the hens and chickens as I had 
permission to take it from the meal and corn bins in the barn. 
I also had another source of income for a time as my father 
offered to give me one dollar at the end of each school term if 
I had not been absent or late at school during the term. I 
can only recall, however, of having earned the dollar once. 
To summarize, my father was always perfectly willing that 
I should have a reasonable supply of pocket money, but he 


felt that I should do something to earn it. 


1812 AND FRENCH SPOLIATIONS. 


When a boy I often used to sit out on our front piazza 
with my father during pleasant summer evenings, and he 
would sometimes get quite reminiscent and tell me stories 
about the Weston firms. 

I can remember quite well his accounts of how, during 
the War of 1812, his grandfather’s and father’s vessels had to 
be hauled up in the narrow creeks in the salt marshes back of 
Pine Hill and their upper masts housed in order that the vessels 
would be out of sight of the British men-of-war which were 
often cruising up and down the coast. 

There is a story told that during the War of 1812 a Duxbury 
sea captain with a younger brother, while on the inside of the 


beach on a gunning or clamming trip, took occasion to climb 


hy 


Gershom Bradford Weston 


up on the ridge of the beach and there saw at the outside of 
the beach a British war vessel landing men. The captain 
referred to was a man of large frame and strenuous character 
and had a loud voice. The captain at once attracted the 
attention of the British war vessel by calling out to the effect, 
as I remember the story, “Come on boys, here they are”’ 
and the British, evidently thinking they were being surprised 
by an armed force, possibly the Duxbury fencibles, retreated 
to their vessel as quickly as possible and she got under way 
and sailed from the vicinity. 

My father also talked to me about the capture, by French 
privateers, from 1797 to 1801, of vessels belonging to his 
grandfather and father and how unjustly the United States 
had acted towards the owners of captured American vessels 
as although France had paid damages to the United States for 
the loss of the vessels the United States had not recompensed 
the owners of the vessels. In the early seventies, however, 
Congress began to make the long delayed appropriations for 


the settling of the damages. 


DRIVES IN WOODS AND “SouLgE’s BEAR.” 


Very pleasant drives could be taken in the Duxbury woods 
up and about the Island Creek and Round Ponds. The 
Westons owned a great deal of woodland, and my father kept 
trimmed the obstructing trees on more or less of the narrow 
roads running by and through their land and, by permission, 
the land of others so that a carriage could be driven without 
difficulty. My father enjoyed driving in the woods with my 
mother on pleasant summer evenings. His favorite equipage 


was a strong and commodious four-wheeled vehicle, its front 


40 


Gershom Bradford Weston 


wheels turning under the body, somewhat resembling a modern 
buggy, which he had built in Duxbury for local use. I was 
often taken on these rides when a little boy and stood up in 
front of my father and mother holding on to the high dasher for 
support. 

I can recall a story that my father sometimes told me when 
we were driving in the woods. It appeared that years before a 
man by the name of Soule was walking through the woods in 
the main road leading from Island Creek Pond towards Dux- 
bury Village early one evening and as he got about half way 
from Island Creek Pond to the now Mayflower Cemetery, he 
thought he saw a bear among the upper branches of a group of 
tall trees a short distance from the road on his right. He 
then ran down to the village as fast as he could and aroused 
his neighbors, some of whom, with firearms and other weapons, 
returned with him to where he thought he saw the bear, but 
it was discovered that what he took for a bear was only a 
thick bunch of foliage. The bear hunt resulted in the group of 


trees being afterwards known as “Soule’s Bear.”’ 


ENTERTAINING. 


In his prosperous days my father had house parties in 
Duxbury every summer and entertained quite a number of 
friends from Boston and elsewhere. Everybody was made to 
feel perfectly at home. During the house parties he used to 
take pleasure in having his guests get together on Sunday 
evenings in the music room and sing hymns. One of the family, 
who was a proficient musician, would play on the piano. 
Although my father and some of his guests could hardly be 


called good singers, all of them seemed to enjoy these amateur 


Al 


Gershom Bradford Weston 


sacred concerts. His favorite hymn was “Greenland’s Icy 
Mountains,” and, as I recall, he was at his best when singing 
this hymn. There were riding parties and whist playing in 
the afternoons and evenings. Also during the season there 
was generally one or two fishing trips to Brant Rock, Marsh- 
field. 

Usually on a fishing trip one or two carriages and a large 
wagon carried the party, fishing tackle, bait and a goodly 
supply of appetizing lunch. He always kept on hand a large 
number of long bamboo fishing rods and hooks and lines. 
When the party arrived at Brant Rock each person was fur- 
nished with a rod and line and the party distributed itself 
on the Rock near the edge of the water. The fish caught was 
sea perch and occasionally a tautog. When the fish were 
unhooked they were put into depressions in the Rock that 
contained sea water and were collected at the end of the day’s 
fishing. Lunch was served at a convenient time and every- 
body had a good appetite for it. The fish were taken home 
and dressed and served for supper, which was one of the 
principal events of the trip. In those days there were not any 
bungalows or cottages at Brant Rock or along Marshfield 
Beach and, consequently, the only people likely to be met in the 


vicinity were excursionists. 


THANKSGIVING CHEER. 


My father, in his prosperous days, used to send on Thanks- 
giving eve to each of about fifty elderly men and women in 
Duxbury two delicious mince pies and to some of them a pair 


of chickens or a turkey as well. 


42 


Gershom Bradford Weston 


There was always a good deal stirring in our house for a 
week or two before Thanksgiving, and I can recall the great 
interest I used to take, when a small boy, in seeing the mince 
pies baked. We had in our cellar a large brick oven having an 
iron floor. A fire of cord wood was built in the oven and 
after the oven was sufficiently hot the ashes were raked out 
and the pies put in to cook. As I remember, at least twenty or 


thirty pies could be baked at a time. 


HORSES AND DOGS. 


My father usually kept about six horses, and among them 
was always one beautifully matched span. In addition, most 
of the time there was a donkey and a pony for the use of the 
younger members of the household. 

There were generally two valuable dogs on the estate, one 
a magnificent Newfoundland and the other a watch bulldog. 
The watchdog’s term of life was not very long, and I can 
remember three of them; they were all-named ‘Bose’ and 
were white, marked with more or less black. There was also 
a very fine water spaniel, named ‘“‘Shot,”’ who was very good- 
natured and an agreeable companion, but otherwise not of 
much use. 

The Westons have always shown an appreciation of and 
kindness to animals, and among my father’s horses was a white 
one, named ‘Jim Simmons,” used altogether as a work horse. 
Jim lived on my father’s estate many years and met his death 
by an accident at the age of more than forty years. As during 
the last years of his life he had grown too old for work, he was 
pastured back of Pine Hill on my father’s estate during the 


warmer months of the year. There was a spring in the pasture, 


43 


Gershom Bradford Weston 


which was curbed up with wooden planks in the form of a 
well, and one day Jim was found dead with his hind legs and 
quarters in the well. He had fallen into the well and the 
concussion of the fall had killed him. 

The second watchdog, Bose, who was a savage dog and made 
friends with only a few people, was particularly fond of Jim 
Simmons and his liking was apparently reciprocated by the 
horse. Bose would follow Jim about when he was at work and 
generally when Jim was standing still Bose would establish 
himself under the cart. 

The body of Jim Simmons was buried near where he died, 
but there was not any monument erected to his memory as in 
the case of my grandfather’s horse “ Dick”’ who died on Powder 
Point; however, my father’s talented cousin, Miss Charlotte 
Bradford, who was one of Jim’s friends, wrote a poem at the 
time and dedicated it to Jim, in which Bose is also mentioned, 


which is as follows:— 


“EPITAPH FOR JIM SIMMONS 


Stay friend awhile—lament for poor old Jim, 
Stay stranger too, and weep a tear for him 

Who spent full forty years in service true— 
And if there’s heaven above for me and you, 
Rest and reward for us when time shall cease, 
Why not for poor old Jim a heaven of peace ?— 
Patient and faithful, meek and far from strife, 
He lived an honest, much enduring life, 

Inured to heavy burdens, slow and sure, 

He served the rich and often helped the poor, 
Of friends old Jim could count but very few, 
Though until death the faithful Bose was true, 
And fewer still of foe would like the name, 

Tor foe to Jim would sure be all to blame, 

But who shall all thy joys and sorrows tell ? 
Fare well old Jim, old Bose sighs fare thee well.” 


AA 


Gershom Bradford Weston 


GUNNING AND FISHING. 


Soon after the firm of E. Weston & Sons dissolved, my 
father revived his early interest in gunning and fishing and 
devoted considerable time to it until matters connected with 
the Civil War took up a great deal of his attention. 

He had a large conveniently arranged boathouse at the Old 
Cove, and he kept there two cedar, lap-streaked, spritsail 
boats, only one of which, however, was generally in commission 
at a time, an ice gunning-boat and a small tender for going back 
and forth from the shore to the sailboats which were moored in 
midstream. His boats were looked after by one of the men 
who was employed on his estate, an ex-sailor, who also went 
with him on most of his gunning and fishing trips when the 
spritsail boats were used. 

He had wooden goose, coot and other decoys, as well as 
live geese and ducks for decoying purposes. He kept on 
hand a full assortment of fishing tackle and guns and other 
apparatus. He had a well-equipped gun room in the carriage 
house near his mansion, and the live ducks and geese were 
kept on his estate most of the time, where he had fenced in 
an area containing a large tank into which water was pumped. 

As what constitutes an ice gunning-boat or the manner in 
which it is used may not be clearly understood, I will explain 
in general detail. The boat is generally used for stalking 
wild fowl, principally geese, when they are feeding on the 
flats in the bay. It is a low, flat-bottomed, perfectly tight 
boat painted white to represent an ice cake, and the men using 
the boat dress in white. Under ordinary conditions the boat 
is propelled with two muffled oars, in the customary manner, 


but in stalking wild fowl it is sculled with one muffled oar, 


45 


Gershom Bradford Weston 


there being a round hole in the stern for that purpose. When 
stalking wild fowl, the boat is, when possible, first rowed or 
sculled to the leeward of the birds and the men in the boat 
lie down on their backs with their guns in readiness to shoot. 
The man nearest the stern sculls the boat slowly towards the 
birds. The birds in the meantime supposedly think that the 
boat is an ice cake. The man sculling keeps his head suffi- 
ciently elevated to observe the birds and when the boat is 
sculled up near enough for a shot he signals the man in front 
of him and they sit up and shoot. 

My father usually employed to go with him on his gunning 
and fishing trips a very experienced gunner and fisherman 
who was a first-class shot, and I will refer to him as I go on 
as the captain. 

My father’s ice gunning-boat was conveniently arranged 
so that he could lie at full length in the boat with his shoulders 
resting on a strip of canvas stretched between the two sides 
of the boat and, therefore, did not in any way interfere with 
the captain in the stern of the boat who did the sculling. 

My father could only be called a fair shot, principally on 
account of his having trouble with his eyes, as nearly all his 
life he was obliged to wear dark-colored glasses in the open and 
strong uncolored glasses indoors and for reading. In shooting 
he could not make practical use of either of these glasses and 
generally had to shoot without glasses; therefore, he was at a 
great disadvantage. 

For a time he leased what was then called Soule’s Pond and 
some adjacent land running up to a relatively high elevation 
and bordering on the shore a short distance below the Old 


Cove. This pond and land was enclosed by a high picket fence 


46 


Gershom Bradford Weston 


and he had there at times as many as twenty-five live wild goose 
decoys. The idea was that the live goose decoys would roam 
around on the high land and be able to see any wild geese 
which might be flying along the outside of or over the beach, 
which was somewhat more than a mile distant, and that when 
they saw these geese they would honk and attract their atten- 
tion and induce them to come into the pond, but I do not 
recall that this ever happened. 

My father and the captain shot quite a number of wild 
geese from the ice gunning-boat in the bay at different times, 
and more or less of those that were only wounded were captured 
by the captain after strenuous chases and were added to the 
geese kept in Soule’s Pond. 

During the gunning season my father kept moored in the 
Island Creek Pond, or Lily Pond, a flock of twelve wooden 
wild goose decoys having a most natural appearance. At 
night and in the early morning he used to go with the captain 
to the pond to shoot wild geese, taking two or three live wild 
goose decoys with him. He had a blind at one side of the 
pond and the live goose decoys, after being secured by having 
long lines fastened to their legs, would go into the water and 
disport themselves or roost on little rests which were built 
for the purpose and at the same time honk and make them- 
selves sufficiently in evidence to attract any wild geese which 
might be in the pond or flying over it. 

The most exciting gunning adventure that I recall was at 
the Island Creek Pond. It was on a holiday, and I was at 
home from school and tried to persuade my father to go up 
in the woods around the pond to shoot partridges. He finally 


told me that if I would find the captain and arrange with him 


47 


Gershom Bradford Weston 


to go with us in the afternoon that we would take live goose 
decoys along and he and the captain would go to the blind 
and endeavor to bag a wild goose or two if any should come 
along and that I could roam off by myself after partridges. 
I arranged with the captain to go with us, and as we were 
driving in the woods, about half a mile from the pond, we saw 
a man in the distance hastening towards us and when he 
reached us he was very much out of breath and only about 
able to say that he was on his way to notify my father that a 
flock of wild geese were swimming around his wooden decoys 
in the pond. We then rode on to as near the pond as it was 
thought advisable and my father and the captain took their 
guns and the live goose decoys and went off to the blind, 
leaving me in charge of the horse and wagon. This, I did not 
like, but I had to accommodate myself to circumstances. 
Very soon I heard the sound of a gun, soon after a second shot 
and then two more shots, and then my curiosity got the best 
of me. I tied the horse to a tree and made my way to the 
blind and there I found my father and the captain feeling very 
pleased as they had killed six large Canadian wild geese. 
There were nine geese in the flock in the first place and two 
were killed at the first shot, when the remainder of the flock 
flew out of the pond but they came back again once or twice 
and four more were killed. Two of the geese were wounded 
and were captured alive within a day or two and brought to 
my father and were added to his flock of live geese. The 
ninth goose, if I remember, was never positively accounted 
for, although I have a faint remembrance of hearing that it 
was found badly wounded by some one who appropriated it 


for his own use, which, of course, he had a perfect right to do. 


48 


Gershom Bradford Weston 


As we were driving home in the evening with the six geese, I 
noticed that my father and the captain were laughing and 
enjoying themselves and that instead of going home the 
nearest way, aS was usually the case, we drove down through 
the village by the Point Union Store. This store, from my 
early remembrance, was a meeting place in the evening for 
a few kindly and congenial citizens where the news and events 
of the day were discussed. When we arrived at the store my 
father asked me to go in and ask a certain delightful gentleman, 
who was generally found there in the evening and who was 
very fond of gunning and an expert shot, to come out for a 
moment, which he did, and the captain swung a lantern around 
into the body of the wagon where lay the six large Canadian 
geese which almost filled it. Our friend was much interested 
and the captain briefly told him how the geese had been killed. 
The next morning practically all of the gunners and those 
interested in the district knew all about the killing of the 
SIX geese. 

My father also used to go gunning for wild ducks to the 
Island Creek Pond. Live tame ducks were used as decoys 
at the blind and they would quack and generally attract the 
attention of any wild ducks in the vicinity. 

For shooting wild fowl, such as coots (scoters), quandies, 
sheldrakes and loons, he used one of his spritsail boats. For 
effective shooting, a line of boats, belonging to different 
gunners, would anchor off the Gurnet at right angles to Duxbury 
Beach at a suitable distance apart and furl their sails and 
unstep their masts and put out wooden decoys. The wild 
fowl in the fall, which was the best season for gunning, would 


come from the north, following the contour of the outside 


49 


Gershom Bradford Weston 


of the beach and, with the exception of sheldrakes and loons, 
would usually fly in flocks near the surface of the water, but 
before reaching the boats they would rise to avoid the boats 
and a shot from a boat would generally cause them to fly off 
at right angles, thereby passing within shot of the other boats. 
Many were the coots, quandies, sheldrakes and loons that 
my father and the captain brought home from the Gurnet 
gunning trips. | 

There is one thing in regard to the manner in which wild 
fowl were dressed down on the south shore which I never 
heard of being done elsewhere; that is, after a fowl had been 
picked and singed it was thoroughly washed and scrubbed 
in warm water with castile soap, and as a result a relatively 
large quantity of slime was removed from the skin of the bird, 
which an ordinary rinsing would not have brought about, 
and then the scrubbed fowl had as white and attractive appear- 
ance as that of a domestic duck. In my own experience I 
used clean, warm water at least three times on each occasion. 
In the course of conversation at times, when I have mentioned 
coot stew as being one of the most delicious dishes of my 
early remembrance, I have been told that as the flesh of coots 
is so strong it is not supposed to be palatable, but I have 
replied to the effect that most assuredly it is when the coots 
are dressed in the manner just described. 

My father and the captain also used to shoot ducks in a 
manner that I have never heard of elsewhere. A dog was 
especially trained for the purpose. This dog was of a pointer 
breed, having short hair and tan in color. The principal 
advantage of this kind of a dog is that it will control its feelings 


and keep silent when at work. The dog was made use of as 


50 


Gershom Bradford Weston 


follows: <A blind was built on the inside of the beach near the 
high water mark and as the tide rose the ducks which had 
been feeding in the bay on the flats or in the guzzles or channels 
would congregate into flocks. Then the dog was made to 
play with a ball in front of the blind. The dog would run 
and jump after the ball and make himself quite conspicuous, 
which would attract the attention of the ducks, and they, 
being very curious, would swim in a mass towards the dog 
and when they were near enough, the dog was called in and 
the gunners behind the blind would shoot at the ducks. 
During the latter part of the fall, when the wild fowl were 
migrating, my father would sometimes drive up and down 
Duxbury Beach, and I was very fond of going with him on 
these trips as occasionally we would come across one or more 
of the great white owls, spotted with black, that were to be 
found on the beach during the colder months of the year. 
As I remember these owls, they had large yellow eyes and some 
of them were about two feet high. I recall one amusing, but 
sad for me, experience, when my father shot at one of the 
very largest of these owls. We then drove up to the owl 
and it appeared to be wounded and inert and did not fly away, 
and my father said that he would put on his heavy gloves 
after he had loaded his gun and put the owl inside of our 
closed wagon. He loaded his gun and put on his gloves and 
was about to take hold of the owl when the owl coolly spread 
its wings and flew away and although we spent nearly an 
hour in trying to find the owl it was the last we ever saw of it. 
On other occasions he shot more or less of these owls and had 
one or two of them stuffed, but none of them was such a mag- 
nificent specimen as the one that flew away which I have 


just mentioned. 


ol 


Gershom Bradford Weston 


When a boy I sometimes used to go gunning after ‘“‘peeps”’ 
on the outside of the beach in the fall with my father, and in 
those days peeps were very plentiful. The best time for shoot- 
ing was from about half-ebb to low tide and the surface of the 
outside of the beach in those days, from a short distance 
below highwater mark to lowwater mark, was hard and compact 
and a horse and carriage could be driven over it with ease 
and rapidity. Sometimes the peeps were shot from the carriage 
as we drove along as we had a very reliable horse that was not 
frightened by gunfire, but most of the time, after a flock of 
peeps was located feeding, my father would get out of the 
carriage and walk up within shooting distance of the birds. 

In the late fifties and early sixties Duxbury was quite 
different from what it is now. The summer cottager had not 
made his advent and there was not any obstruction between 
the Old Cove and Bay as the bridge from Powder Point to 
the beach had not been built. Shore birds were abundant in 
season and the birds far outnumbered the gunners, whereas at 
the present time it is stated that on occasions the gunners 
outnumber the birds. 

On account of my father not allowing, as a rule, any birds 
to be shot on his estate, and the groves and trees which afforded 
them shelter, all kinds of local birds and quail lived and propa- 
gated there in considerable numbers. 

The principal fishing at Duxbury consisted in trolling for 
bluefish and bass in the Bay and in catching cod out on the 
ledges beyond the beach and perch and haddock off the Gurnet 
and Saquish, and there was generally good fishing inshore off 
the Gurnet when the codfish came into the shallow water in 
the fall. 


52 


Gershom Bradford Weston 


In regard to bluefishing: There was a procedure that 
appears to be particularly original. In my father’s boats, 
when he went bluefishing, there was always carried a covered 
water-tight tub or box. This was about half or more filled 
with sea water. When a bluefish was caught it was knocked 
in the head, its tail cut off and then put into the box or tub to 
bleed. <A bluefish will bleed “like a pig,’ and the water in 
the box or tub was changed two or three times or more, depend- 
ent on the number of fish caught. The fish, when taken ashore, 
were cut open in the back, dressed, the backbone removed, 
sprinkled with salt and then hung up to drain. The bleeding 
of the fish greatly improved its appearance and flavor. 

At one time he and the captain conjointly owned a large 
fish weir. The material was furnished by my father and the 
captain built it. The weir was located, as I remember, about 
a thousand feet northeast from Powder Point, on a flat beyond 
the main channel leading to the beach. I can recall that a 

~ number of fair catches were removed from the weir at times 
but that, on the whole, it was not a success. I think it was 


destroyed by ice the winter after it was built or the next winter. 


EXTEMPORANEOUS SPEAKING. 


My father, as a speaker, was at his best on extemporaneous 
occasions. I can recall that at a war meeting in the early 
sixties, when urging citizens of Duxbury to enlist or to con- 
tribute money for the purchase of substitutes, in order that 
a draft on the town might be avoided, he was interrupted 
by a citizen asking him why he himself did not enlist. My 
father almost instantly replied to the effect that he would gladly 


have enlisted at the commencement of the war if he had not 


93 


Gershom Bradford Weston 


been too old and in very poor health but that two of his sons 
had enlisted at the outbreak of the war and did not wait for 
the Town of Duxbury to buy substitutes for them. The 


citizen then apologized for having interrupted him. 


EsQuirE WESTON. 


My father was in a great many instances addressed as 
“Squire” by many people in Duxbury, especially those that 
grew up with him. Whether the title of ‘“‘Squire” originated 
from his being a Justice of the Peace or as a mark of distinction, 


I do not know. 


POLITICAL PRESTIGE. 


It has been said that my father’s influence in regard to 
politics in his prosperous days was largely due to his being a 
wealthy man. This, I do not think is true, although his 
wealth may have had considerable to do with his success. 
However, when. he was last elected to the Massachusetts 
Senate, for 1868 and 1869, he was a poor man. Also, he was 
informed in 1868, when he was advocating in his district the 
nomination of a friend for Congress, that some of the leading 
men of the district were discussing him as a candidate for 


Congress. 


BURNING OF MANSION. 


On March 29, 1850, my father’s mansion in Duxbury, 
valued at about $50,000, was completely destroyed by fire, 
the inmates barely escaping with only their night clothes on 
and they fled for refuge to the house of my eldest half-brother 


about a quarter of a mile away. The fire was discovered 


o4 


Gershom Bradford Weston 


about eleven o’clock at night in the nursery, which was com- 
pletely in flames, and the house was filled with smoke. The 
Volunteer Fire Department with two engines were soon on the 
eround and rendered efficient service in protecting the barns 
and other outbuildings from destruction. The citizens of the 
neighborhood and village were early present, anxious and 
willing to do all that could be done to arrest the flames, but 
the fire spread so rapidly that all efforts to save the house and 
its contents proved unavailing. 

There are several versions as to how the fire started, but 
the most plausible one appears to be that it was due to a 
defect in the nursery chimney. Everybody in the house was 
asleep, when the laundress, who slept in a room in the upper 
story, dreamed that the house was on fire, and she awoke and 
found the house apparently filled with smoke and ran out into 
the hallway and screamed and awoke my father, who immedi- 
ately aroused the other inmates. The fire came very near 
resulting in a tragedy as my father had a narrow escape with 
his life. The nurse had brought my youngest half-brother, 
about six years old, downstairs in his nightgown and left him 
temporarily to get something to wrap around him and cautioned 
him not to move from where she left him, but he got interested 
in the men carrying buckets of water upstairs and followed 
some of them, and when the nurse returned the boy was gone 
and she franticly informed my father, who rushed back into 
the burning house, and while searching for the boy his eyebrows 
were burned off and his face badly scorched; in the meantime 
the boy had returned and was found by the nurse. 

Naturally there was more or less excitement at the time, 


and my mother has told me that when she was leaving the 


59 


Gershom Bradford Weston 


burning house, instead of taking her watch and jewels from her 
dressing table, she went to a closet and took out and carried 
with her one or two skirts or dresses of very little value and 
also that some of the kindly citizens, who were endeavoring 
to assist as much as possible in saving what furniture they could, 
threw mirrors out of the second story windows to the ground. 
My mother has also told me how my Aunt Cornelia, who was 
visiting my mother at the time, carried me, wrapped in a 
blanket, from the burning mansion to the house of my eldest 
half-brother. 

There were some very valuable papers lost in the fire, 
especially those in connection with the French Spoliation 
Claims, which related to the loss of American vessels that were 
captured by French privateers from 1797 to 1801, and which, 
had they been saved, would undoubtedly have enabled my 
father’s heirs to have collected a substantial amount from the 
United States Government for the loss of several vessels owned 
by E. Weston & Son as in the early seventies Congress began to 
make the long delayed appropriations for the settling of the 
damages for which the French Government had already 


reimbursed the United States Government. 


“THE Rich MEN or MASSACHUSETTS.” 


In a book published in 1851, entitled ‘“The Rich Men of 


Massachusetts,” is the following relating to my father :— 


“Weston, GreRSHoM B. $200,000 


This gentleman may be worth more than our estimate, 
but his property is chiefly invested in navigation, and it 
is hard to judge of its value. He inherited a large amount 
from his father, Ezra Weston, a distinguished ship-owner, 


56 


Gershom Bradford Weston 


and has been successful in the same business. He is 
generous, hospitable, fond of good living, more fond of 
having his own way, and pretty sure to have it. He was 
formerly a Whig Senator, but is now an influential member 
of the Free-Soil party. He is also remarkable for the zeal 
and liberality, with which he has espoused the Temperance 
cause. His elegant mansion, which cost sixty thousand 
dollars, was the boast of Duxbury, until it was destroyed by 
fire, some two years since. Mr. Weston is a cordial friend, 
and a constant enemy. If he had many more faults than 
he has, his general and unostentatious charity would 
cover them all.”’ 


DREAM OR VISION ON ATLANTIC OCEAN. 


Just before sailing from the Guanape Islands in the Pacific 
Ocean, via Cape Horn, for Hamburg in 1869, I received letters 
informing me that my father was very ill and in all probability 
that I would never see him again. Although I felt very badly 
regarding the news, I had too much to occupy my attention 
to let it seriously dwell on my mind, but one night on the 
South Atlantic Ocean I had a dream or vision while asleep. 
As I recall the incident, there seemed to be off on the water 
gliding towards me a somewhat indistinct procession of draped 
rectangular objects that suggested a funeral, which made me 
shudder. The first letters from home which I received on my 
arrival at Hamburg informed me that my father had died, and 
as near as I could estimate he died about the time I saw the 
mysterious procession in my dream. I have told this story 
several times and more than one who have heard it say that 
the incident was a vision, but in my own opinion it was simply 
the depression, which I unconsciously felt after hearing at the 
Guanape Islands that my father was very ill, making itself 


manifest in a dream. 


a7 


Gershom Bradford Weston 


My FATHER’S LAST LETTER TO ME. 


On my return to America on November 25, 1869, I found a 
letter written to me by my father about two and one-half 
months before he died. At the time he wrote the letter I was 
“on ship” at the Guanape Islands in the Pacific Ocean. The 


letter was as follows:— 


“ JuLy 2, 1869 
My dear son Edmund, 

I am only able to write these few lines. God bless 
you and prosper you through life. Protect and take care 
of your mother is your dying father’s request. 

Good-bye, 
Your affectionate father, 
G. B. Weston.” 


My FATHER’S BECOMING A POOR MAN. 


It has seemed surprising to many, and I have often been 
asked, why it was that my father during his last days was a 
poor man, when during the greater part of his life, to about 
1860, he had been considered a successful merchant and wealthy, 
and his father and grandfather before him had been extremely 
prosperous in business and wealthy, and in explanation I 


would state the following :— 


In 1843, the commencement of the clipper ship era, on 
account of the growing demand for the quick transportation of 
tea from China, and later, under the stimulating influence of 
the discovery of gold in California and Australia in 1849 and 
1851, there was a great call for faster sailing ships, and my 


father was very desirous that his firm, E. Weston & Sons, 


58 


Gershom Bradford Weston 


should build clipper ships to meet the requirements of the 
time, but his two brothers, the other members of the firm, 
were so extremely conservative that they would not consent to 
do this, and, therefore, great business opportunities were 
allowed to go by as other leading American merchants, recog- 
nizing the probable business advantages, built clipper ships 
and realized large fortunes in consequence, while the business 
of E. Weston & Sons commenced to decline, and on December 
31, 1857, it was discontinued altogether. 

He lost about $100,000 in transactions in “ Eastern lands”’ 
in which a number of Boston capitalists were interested. 

His personal expenses, on account of his large family and 
magnificent estate and luxuriously appointed mansion, were 
relatively very heavy. 

He assisted financially at least two of his sons in their 
business ventures at times and his house and home were 
always open as an abiding place, free of expense, for his children 
even after his sons had reached manhood. 

He was very generous, kind hearted and charitable. Among 
his papers when he died were more than sixty notes receivable, 
which were outlawed, ranging in amounts from $5 to $2,300, 
and which were practically all signed by “‘needy”’ inhabitants 
of Duxbury; also among his papers there was another outlawed 
account, amounting to about $6,000, which money he had 
loaned to a supposed friend who had made misrepresentations 
and taken advantage of his good nature. He was liberal in 
his political contributions as well as to organizations for the 
promotion of the tempérance cause and to others established 


for improving and benefiting the human race. 


59 


Gershom Bradford Weston 


He commenced housekeeping in 1820 in a house which he 
had purchased with thirty acres of land bordering on the north 
side of Harmony Street, Duxbury. He converted the land 
into a beautiful estate by setting out and planting many 
ornamental and fruit trees and a great deal of shrubbery and 
laying out avenues and walks. He built on the estate a 
mansion having all modern improvements, two large barns, 
outbuildings, hot houses and ice houses, rustic arbors and 
“summer houses.’”?’ As soon as his new mansion was com- 
pleted, about 1840, he moved into it and made it his home 
until early in 1850, when it was, with its contents, valued 
at about $50,000, destroyed by fire, which, owing to a mis- 
understanding, was not insured at the time and was a total 
loss. He then moved to Boston and resided there for about 
five years, although he did not relinquish his Duxbury citizen- 
ship. In the meantime he built in Duxbury another mansion, 
on the same site, which had to be entirely supplied with new 
furniture, to take the place of the mansion that was burned 
down. 

Commencing in 1861, his only living brother sued my 
father for money which he had loaned him and foreclosed a 
mortgage which he held on my father’s Duxbury estate; 
consequently, my father was obliged to give up his luxurious 
home in the winter of 1867 and move into a small house nearby 
which a neighbor rented to him. 

It might be said that, when my father’s mansion burned 
down, if he had permanently moved back into the unpretentious 
house in which he first commenced housekeeping, instead of 
rebuilding, and had reduced his living expenses accordingly, 


he might have ended his days in comfortable circumstances, 


60 


Gershom Bradford Weston 


but he had been brought up in an atmosphere of prosperity 
and suecess, and I can understand why he hesitated to do 
this. 

An extensive experience in professional and commercial 
business practically all over the world leads me to believe 
that if, in accordance with my father’s advice, E. Weston & 
Sons had commenced to build clipper ships in the forties they 
could have successfully continued in business, and my father, 
instead of dying a poor man, would have died in prosperous 
circumstances. 


EDMUND BROWNELL WESTON 


September, 1916. 


61 





Memoir of Alden Bradford Weston 





’ OF THE © : — ae 
UNIVERSITY OF ILINOIS 





ALDEN BRADFORD WESTON 


UNIVERSITY 9 


LIBRARY 


OF WHE 


F UNO: 





Alden Bradford Weston 


Marine Merchant 


Alden Bradford—son of Ezra (I])—son of Ezra (1)—son of 
Eliphas—son of John—son of Edmund. 

Alden Bradford Weston was the son of Ezra Weston (II) 
and Jerusha Bradford. 

The only genealogical data that the author is conversant 
with regarding his uncle Alden is what was principally written 
by his uncle Alden himself and is among Genealogical Memo- 


randums relating to the Weston family, as follows:— 


SpeaJanwlseh, lovo., DD: June Ist, 1880, aged’ 75 -y. 4 m. 
& 15 d.—at Duxbury, Mass. Light complexion—light hair— 
thin about five feet 8 inch high—M. at St. Louis June 9, 1860 
to Mrs. Phoebe A. Hammond, daughter of Samuel Aderton 
& Phoebe Dunham, of Freeport, Maine, B. Oct. 21, 1814, D. 
January 29, 1869.” . 


As what my uncle Alden wrote about himself is so brief 
and as he was a member of the firm of E. Weston «& Sons, I 
will add something to it, based on my own recollections about 
him: 

He entered the employ of his father, Ezra Weston (II), at 
an early age and afterwards became his father’s principal 


) 


“indoor” assistant. In 1842 he was admitted to partnership 


65 


Alden Bradford Weston 


with his father, together with his brothers Gershom and Ezra 
(IV), the firm name being changed from Ezra Weston to E. 
Weston & Sons. A description regarding the business of 
the four Weston firms, E. Weston, E. Weston & Son, Ezra 
Weston, and E. Weston & Sons, is given in the accompanying 
memoir of Gershom Bradford Weston. 

He lived on the Powder Point, Duxbury, property which 
he, with his brother Ezra (IV), inherited from his father, and 
where his father and grandfather had lived. On the death of 
his brother Ezra (IV), he also inherited the portion of the 
Powder Point property which had belonged to his brother 
Tizra (LY). 

He is buried with his wife by the side of the granite monu- 
ment which he personally had erected in the Weston burial 
lot in Mayflower Cemetery, Duxbury. 

My recollections regarding my uncle Alden are principally 
from my early childhood until I was about fifteen years old. 
I recall him as a pleasant, kindly man of conservative views 
and habits. He lived simply, and his principal amusement In 
the evening, in Boston, where he resided much of the time, 
was in playing whist in his boarding house with congenial 
companions. Many a Christmas morning, on account of his 
generosity and thoughtfulness, he greatly added to my pleasure 
and to that of my youngest half-brother and my two half- 
sisters by our finding many attractive presents in our stockings 
that were hung up the night before. He also made my youngest 
half-brother and I many other delightful and appropriate 
gifts during our boyhood days. 

It is with sorrow that I recall the unpleasant events which 


transpired during the last six or eight years of my father’s 


66 


Alden Bradford Weston 


life, as the two brothers (Gershom and Alden) were deeply 
estranged. 

This was principally due to financial matters and resulting 
disagreeable lawsuits. Previous to their estrangement they 
were on brotherly and friendly terms. The financial matters 
involved ‘were mainly that my uncle Alden had loaned my 
father money from time to time and he also held a full mort- 
gage on my father’s magnificent estate in Duxbury, my mother 
having ‘‘signed off” her right of dower. The final result 
was that after about six years of litigation, commencing in 
1861, my father, in due process of law, was evicted from his 
home by his brother under trying circumstances in the winter 
of 1867 and was obliged to move into a small house which he 
rented nearby. It is possible, however, that before his death 
my uncle Alden may have acquired a more charitable frame 
of mind relative to my father as he did not leave a will and, 
consequently, his property, after he died, was inherited by 
my father’s children, the legal heirs. My uncle Alden did 
not communicate with any of his relatives during his last 


illness and none of them were with him when he died. 


EpMUND BROWNELL WESTON 


September, 1916. 


67 





Memoir of Ezra Weston (IV) 








ZRA WESTON (IV) 


E 





oe - + gti “ee pc 4 
| ; : he Po al Pe Ti 4 
> oa - 7 “s < + i . : Wr a 7 
7 F ; , hy : 4 r 43% A: hee Oe 
, ty . | } | 
; ‘ , 


Ezra Weston (IV)* 


Lawyer, Horticulturist and Marine Merchant 


Ezra (1V)—son of Ezra (II)—son of Ezra (1)—son of 
Eliphas—son of John—son of Edmund. 

Ezra Weston (IV), son of Ezra Weston (II) and Jerusha 
Bradford, was born in Duxbury, Mass., December 23, 1809, 
and died there September 6, 1852. 

He had a light complexion and light hair, was a well- 
built person and was about five feet ten inches tall. 

He was a Harvard man, graduated in the famous class 
of 1829, studied law at the Harvard Law School and was 
admitted to the bar and practiced law in Boston. He was 
very popular with his classmates, and he was captain of the 
college military company. 

After he graduated from Harvard he was called to the 
command of the Boston Light Infantry, familiarly known 
as “The Tigers.” 

Some few years later, on being urged, he accepted the 
appointment of ‘City Marshal” of Boston. 

In 1842 he was admitted to partnership with his father, 


together with his brothers Gershom and Alden, the firm name 





*E\zra Weston (III): Born 1796, died 1805. 


71 


Ezra Weston (IV) 


being changed from Ezra Weston to E. Weston & Sons. A 
description regarding the business of the four Weston firms, 
K. Weston, EK. Weston & Son, Ezra Weston, and E. Weston 
& Sons, is given in the accompanying memoir of Gershom 
Bradford Weston. 

He visited Europe several times, and traveled abroad 
extensively. 

He was something of a musician and devoted considerable 
time to the study of music. 

He lived on the Powder Point, Duxbury, property which 
he, with his brother Alden, inherited from his father and where 
his father and grandfather had lived. 

He was unmarried. 

He is buried in the tomb under the sandstone monument 


in the Weston Burial Lot in Mayflower Cemetery, Duxbury. 


EDMUND BROWNELL WESTON 
September, 1916. 


12 


Memoir of Deborah Brownell Weston 


a, Lam. } 
ey u@ ou 
" : 








DEBORAH BROWNELL WESTON AND HER SON 
EDMUND BROWNELL WESTON 


(About 30 and’3 years of age, respectively) 





Deborah Brownell Weston 


Devoted Wife and Mother 


Deborah Briggs Brownell, daughter of Edmund Brownell 
and Priscilla Briggs: Born in Little Compton, R. I., August 1, 
1822, and died in New Bedford, Mass., July 12, 1907; married, 
as his second wife, Hon. Gershom Bradford Weston of Duxbury, 
Mass., February 23, 1848, who was born August 27, 1799, 
and died September 14, 1869. They had two children: 
Edmund Brownell, born March 25, 1849; Ezra (V), born July 
31, 1859, and died September 11, 1859. 


PROGENITORS. 


The progenitors of Deborah Briggs Brownell were as 
follows :— 


Sir Edmund Brownell, Mayor of Coventry, England, 
in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. 

Hisson: Thomas Brownell, of Derbyshire, England, 
born about 1618, and died 1665. He married Anna, 
his wife, in about 1638, who survived him, and they 
came to America in 1689. 

His son: Thomas Brownell, born 1650, died May 
18, 1732. His wife: Mary Pierce, born May 6, 1654, 
and died May 4, 1736. 


75 


Deborah Brownell Weston 


Hisson: Lieutenant George Brownell, born January 
19, 1685, and died September 22, 1756; probably served 
with Gen. Wolfe at Quebec. His wife: Mary Thurston, 
born March 20, 1685, and died February 3, 1740. 

His son: Lieutenant Jonathan Brownell, born 
March 19, 1719, and died June 11, 1776; was wounded 
at Bunker Hill and did not recover. His wife: Eliza- 
beth Richmond, born February 26, 1725, and died 
June 2, 1806. 

His son: Pardon Brownell, born July 6, 1745, and 
died January 24, 1799. His wife: Prudence Shaw, 
born 1744, and died January 9, 1823. 

Hisson: Edmund Brownell, born in Little Compton, 

R. I., November 7, 1775, and died there February 1, 
1840. His wife (second): Priscilla Briggs, born in Little 
Compton, January 10, 1785, and died there December 
1, 1869. Deborah Briggs Brownell was one of their 
daughters. 
My mother’s American forebears were upright, God-fearing 
people. The Brownell men, from the earliest Colonial Times, 
were ever ready to and did fight for their country when their 


services were required. 


FATHER AND EDUCATION. 
My mother’s father, Edmund Brownell, was a prosperous 
farmer of Little Compton, R. I., and his house was a commodious 


one. 

Her early education was acquired in the schools of Little 
Compton and later in Boston, where she resided a large part 
of the time with her eldest brother, Gilbert, who married 


Eliza Emerson and who was a dry goods merchant in 


Boston. 


76 





DEBORAH BROWNELL WESTON 


(About 31 vears of age) 


7 
| 
j 














: a : ; ce s 

: ; cee ee y 8 at 

5 ! - aD ’ -“ wi rh, eh a8 — ah 7 

; Fi i on ew, > hy ae te re rel wt 
~ : ‘ lied” Con es Z 





* = a ao 


Is 








as 
b 
ii 
' 
ix 






Wily 
- 
5 
> 
\- 


f 
‘\ynversity OF 


, Pd 25 | | 
oe See: : 
i ‘ zl : 

*, ie as ( * 4 y - G 





Deborah Brownell Weston 


MARRIAGE. 


My mother married my father, Hon. Gershom Bradford 
Weston of Duxbury, Mass., when she was twenty-five years 
old, and my father was forty-eight years old. At the time of 
her marriage my father had living nine children, seven sons 
and two daughters, ranging in age from four years to twenty- 
six years, the eldest child, a son, being nine months older than 
my mother. 

I have heard it said that when one of her friends learned 
that my father had so many children she asked how my mother 
could have married into such a large family, particularly as 
my mother had a delightful home and her family greatly loved 
and appreciated her. The marriage of my father and mother 
was a genuine love match, however, as I can personally 
remember, and I have frequently been told, that my father 
and mother were always particularly devoted to each other. 
I can recall a circumstance which perhaps might fill part of 
a romantic story: In looking over my mother’s most valued 
possessions after she died I found a small, carefully tied-up 
package, on which was written ‘‘Given me by Mr. Weston the 
first time I saw him, at the Mechanics Fair in 1847.” As I 
had never heard of this package before, I opened it with unusual 
interest, wondering what it could be that my mother had kept 
so carefully for more than fifty-nine years and thinking that 
possibly it might be a valuable ‘“‘jewel,” but I only found a 
little piece of dried-up, brown soap, which my father had 


evidently presented to my mother as a pleasantry or a joke. 


INFANT’S DEATH. 


My mother’s greatest sorrow during the first half of her 


married life was probably on the death of her infant son, 


7 


Deborah Brownell Weston 


Ezra (V), who was born July 31, 1859, and died September 
11, 1859. I find, among others, in a scrapbook which belonged 
to her, the following lines that she pasted in the book at the 


time :— 
“OQ! when a mother meets on high 
The babe she lost in infancy, 
Hath she not then, for pains and fears, 
The day of wo, the watchful night, 
For all her sorrow, all her tears, 
An overpayment of delight ?”’ 


CHARACTER. 

My mother was a remarkable woman and had one of the 
sweetest dispositions, in my opinion, that is conceivable for 
anyone to have. <A dear friend who knew her intimately 
has recently written me that nothing can be said which will 
express her true worth. I recall a saying of my mother’s 
to the effect that she always tried to make up her mind in the 
morning as to how she could make somebody happy during 
the day and that at night she liked to be able to look back and 
feel that she had made somebody happy during the day. 

She was a sincere christian, and, with her family, was a 
member of the Congregational Church until she married. 
After her marriage she generally attended the same churches 
as her husband, and after his death she worshipped at 
Congregational and Episcopal Churches. ; 

Her extraordinary devotion to her husband during the 
latter years of his life, when he was in poor health and seriously 
embarrassed relative to financial matters and had to give up 
and move from his magnificent estate, had a vast amount to 
do with keeping up his courage and prolonging his days. 

She was a woman of remarkable executive ability, but her 


ways were quiet and of a persuasive order rather than arbitrary. 


18 





DEBORAH BROWNELL WESTON 


(About 32 years of age) 





UNIVERSITY OF ILLINO!. 


Deborah Brownell Weston 


In 1867, when the furniture of my father’s mansion in Duxbury 
was being packed and moved, she seemed to superintend 
everything with apparently slight effort, although there were 
more or less people constantly asking her for detailed instruc- 
tions regarding a great many different things. 

After my father’s death she seemed more devoted to her 
Saviour than ever before, but it was with that wondrous kind 
of devotion which always enabled her to appear cheerful 
and smiling, which was an encouragement to others, rather 


than somber and gloomy. 


BURNING OF MANSION. 


CHANGE 


I have described in the memoir of my father the burning of 
his mansion in Duxbury, valued at about $50,000, in 1850. 
My- mother’s personal loss during the fire was considerable, 


the value of her jewels alone being about $3,000. 


IN FORTUNE. 


I can recall with what remarkable fortitude my mother 
bore the great change in her manner of living, owing to my 
father’s becoming a poor man and having to give up her 
luxurious home over which she had presided for nineteen 
years. I never heard her make any complaints regarding 
it, and I feel sure that she never in any way talked regretfully 
about it to my father, but, on the contrary, made almost 
superhuman efforts to cheer and encourage him during the 
years that followed. She would occasionally talk to me 
about our old home, but it was always in a cheerful and 
reconciling manner, but she must have greatly felt the change 


in her fortune at times. 


fhe, 


Deborah Brownell Weston 


TEMPERANCE, CHARITABLE AND PUBLIC SPIRITED WORK. 


My mother was President of the Union Martha Washington 
Relief Society of Duxbury, a charitable and temperance 
organization, consisting of ladies, which my father was very 
much interested in founding in the early forties. She became 
its President soon after she was married to my father, and 
continued in that position until she went away from Duxbury 
to live. I do not recall that in those days there was another 
society of its kind and prominence in Duxbury, and once 
a year they gave an entertainment, about Christmas time, 
generally in the nature of a fair and ‘grand ball.” These 
entertainments were largely attended and were one of the 
features of the town life and were looked forward to. The 
society also nearly always had an annual strawberry festival. 
At times my mother’s work in connection with the entertain- 
ments was very fatiguing, but she seemed to enjoy it. The 
members of the society met at regular intervals to sew for 
charity, to attend to the business of the society and for social 
intercourse. During the Civil War the society contributed 
money and clothing and other necessary articles for the 
soldiers through the various agencies instituted for the purpose. 
They also subscribed for a recruit to be enrolled in the name of 
the society. 

After the war was over an association of ladies was formed 
to build a soldiers monument, of which my mother was the 
President. She and other members of the association devoted 
a great deal of time and energy in regard to raising subscrip- 
tions. for the monument, which was dedicated Memorial 
Day, May 30, 1872, and stands at the southeastern corner of 
Mayflower Cemetery, Duxbury. 


80 


Deborah Brownell Weston 


I can remember when the ‘‘Mount Vernon Ladies Associa- 
tion of the Union” was incorporated in March, 1858, for the 
purpose of raising funds for the purchase, as a memorial, of 
“Mount Vernon,” the former home of George Washington. 
The project was a success, and the greater part of the property 
was purchased by 1858 and the remainder by 1887. My mother 
was appointed by the National Committee as a collector of 
funds for Duxbury. Each individual subscription was limited 
to one dollar, and in connection with the matter my mother 
spent a great deal of time in driving all over town to ask 
people to subscribe, and for a little town like Duxbury she was 
reasonably successful as she collected about $127. 

She was greatly interested in the National Sailors Fair, for 
raising money for a National Sailors Home, which was held 
in the Boston Theatre from November 9 to November 19, 
1864. My mother and Mrs. Charles G. Davis of Plymouth 
were the managers of the Old Colony table and during the Fair 
she was always in attendance. 

Also, my mother did a great deal personally for the soldiers 
during the Civil War, and during her married life she ably 
labored with her husband in connection with public functions, 
charities, the temperance cause and in doing all she could for 
the uplifting and welfare of the unfortunate, and after her 
husband’s death she took a great interest in the education and 
advancement of the colored race in the South and in the 
Dr. Cullis Consumptive Home in Boston and assisted both of 
these causes in the collection of funds and the securing and 
making of articles for their fairs and sales for the purpose of 


raising money. 


81 


Deborah Brownell Weston 


LEAVING DUXBURY. 


For about eight years after my father’s death my mother 
lived the greater part of the time in Duxbury and in New 
Bedford with her sister Cornelia, the wife of Dr. G. F. Matthes, 
a prominent physician. 

In 1877 she went to reside with a friend in Hartford, Conn., 
and lived there about seventeen years, with the exception of 
two or three months during the summer of each year which 
she spent in Duxbury and New Bedford and at the mountains 
or seashore. My mother was very happy during her resi- 
dence in Hartford, and it may have been one of the pleas- 
antest periods of her life, notwithstanding the love and 
reverence she bore my father’s memory. It was in Hartford 
that her cousin, the Rt. Rev. Thomas C. Brownell, for a 
time President of Washington College (now Trinity) and 
Episcopal Bishop of Connecticut and presiding Bishop of the 
Protestant Episcopal Church in America, formerly lived. 
Bishop Brownell died before my mother went to Hartford 
to live, but his widow was still living and was one of her 
dearest friends. 

After residing in Hartford until 1894, my mother went 
to New Bedford to live with her sister Cornelia, whose husband 
had died about five years before. She then lived until she 
died with her sister Cornelia, but serious cares fell once 
more on her shoulders after living in New Bedford a short time 
as her youngest brother, Richard, went to my aunt’s house 
very sick and died there about a year later, and afterwards 
her sister Cornelia was taken ill and never left her bed again, 
and, although nurses and doctors were constantly in attendance, 


a great deal of responsibility fell on my mother’s shoulders, 


82 


a 
ae 
piste 
Ook ieee. 

a} 





DEBORAH BROWNELL WESTON 
(About 60 years of age) 





Brant 7 
OF THE | 
UnIERSITY OF WUN2. 






PASSING 


Deborah Brownell Weston 


owing to the management of the household and the financial 
overlook regarding my aunt Cornelia’s property. A younger 
sister, Eliza, also resided in New Bedford with my aunt 
Cornelia, and she, too, was taken ill after my mother went to 
New Bedford to live and she never entirely recovered, although 
she regained her health sufficiently to attend to her usual 
duties and she outlived her two sisters. 

When my mother went to live in Duxbury as a bride she 
was practically a stranger, but she soon made friends. She 
became attached to Duxbury, particularly on account of 
my father’s great love for the town and especially during the 
last years that she lived there owing to the kind sympathy 
of friends and neighbors for my father in his misfortunes, and 
it was with regret that she went from Duxbury to live. After 
leaving Duxbury she generally made an annual visit to Dux- 
bury with pleasure and enjoyment, but as she grew older and 
her sisters in New Bedford required more of her attention 
she practically gave up her visits to Duxbury after the death 
of her very dear friends, my father’s cousins, the Misses 
Lucia, Elizabeth and Charlotte Bradford. These three ladies 
were descendants in the seventh generation from William 
Bradford, the second Governor of Plymouth Colony, and 


were highly educated, cultivated and public-spirited. 


AWAY; 


One of the greatest shocks of my life was when I learned 
of my mother’s death. She was always so cheerful and unsel- 
fish and said so little about her own personal troubles that it 
was hard to believe the possibility of her death at the time. 


I was not notified when she was first taken sick or when she 


83 


Deborah Brownell Weston 


grew worse the next day as no one deemed her illness of a serious 
nature and she died suddenly. I was not even notified on the 
day of her death as my aunt Cornelia, who was confined to 
her bed, did not know of it herself as it was not thought best 
to tell her until a day or two after my mother had died, my 
aunt Eliza was very nervous and had not recovered from a 
serious illness, the family doctor, who took the responsibility 
of caring for the health of the three sisters, was a busy man and 
the efficient nurse, who had charge of my aunt Cornelia’s case, 
had a great deal to do. If it had not been that an intimate 
friend of the family called me up by telephone the morning 
after my mother died, Saturday, I might not have learned of 
her death until considerably later as I had, for some time, been 
in the habit of going from Providence to spend the week-end 
at different places, and if I had gotten away from Providence 
before receiving the telephone message I might not have been 
communicated with until Monday, as I did not always leave 
my address in Providence. My acknowledgment of the 
telephone message was ‘‘you mean my aunt is dead and not 
my mother,’ but I was assured it was my mother, and when 
I afterwards telephoned to relatives and friends in regard to 
the sad news they thought it must be a mistake for none of 


them could at first believe that she had passed away. 


“Oh, for the touch of a vanished hand, 


And the sound of a voice that is still !” 


The following is an extract from a letter that my mother 
wrote to me a number of years before she died and left for me 
to read after her death:— 


84 


Deborah Brownell Weston 


“T want now to thank you, my dear son, for all your 
kindness and care for me and, oh, my dear son, may we 
meet in that Blessed Land, where there will be no more 
sorrow, no more tears and God shall wipe away all tears 
from our hearts. Do good, my dearest son, as you have 
opportunity and many, many be better and happier for your 
life. I shall look for you, my dear son, and watch for your 
coming and perhaps your little baby brother will be waiting 
for you when you shall be called. May many rise up to 
call you blessed. Hard, hard it will be to leave you, but 


) 


only Jesus, your Saviour, can help you in your loneliness.’ 


My mother is buried, as she desired, by her husband’s 
side in the tomb under the sandstone monument in the Weston 
Burial Lot in Mayflower Cemetery, Duxbury, and her infant 


son Ezra (V) is buried in the same tomb. 


In MeEmMoRIAM. 


In memory of my aunt Eliza and my mother, I have pre- 
sented, in trust, the estate where my grandmother and aunt 
Eliza last resided in Little Compton, R. I., which I inherited 
through my aunt Eliza and my mother, to the Village Improve- 
ment Society of that town as a headquarters and for their 
general use with the proviso that the property shall be main- 


tained and kept in good condition forevermore. 


EDMUND BROWNELL WESTON 
September, 1916. 


85 





Weston Armorial Bearings and Descent 


- & 


LIBRARY 


OF a 
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 








WESTON ARMORIAL BEARINGS 





ne 
es 
— 
= _ 
- y 


LIBRARY 
OF THE 
UNIVERSITY OF ILINGL. 






3 





Weston Armorial Bearings and Descent 


What I am writing regarding the Weston armorial bearings 
and descent at first thought may not appear to be particularly 
conclusive, but it is the result of months of careful research 
in America and England, with the assistance of the Richmond 
Herald, College of Arms, London. 

Our family of Westons is descended from Edmund Weston 
who came from England to Duxbury; Mass., in 1635, and who 
was the great-grandfather of Ezra Weston (1), but mainly owing 
to the loss, by fire, of the earlier records of Duxbury, it has 
not been possible to actually determine who the ancestors of 
Edmund Weston were. 

There is a copy of Weston armorial bearings which has 
been in the possession of the families of my grandfather and 
father since 1834, when it was brought over from England by 
Ezra Weston (IV), who was a graduate of Harvard College, 
a lawyer and a man of literary attainments, and he undoubtedly 
satisfied himself as to the authenticity of the armorial bearings 
before he brought the copy to America. These armorial 
bearings may be described as: Arms—‘‘Or, an eagle dis- 
played regardant sable;’’ Crest—‘‘An eagle rising regardant 
sable, beaked and membered or;”’ 
Honte.”’ 


It should be borne in mind, in accordance with the accepted 


and Motto—‘‘Craignez 


laws of Heraldry, that our family of Westons can only right- 


89 


Weston Armorial Bearings and Descent 


fully use the armorial bearings above referred to as an assertion 
of their descent from the person to whom they were granted, 
confirmed or allowed or by whom they were inherited in the 
direct line. 

There are many families of the same name in England 
having armorial bearings which have the same arms (which 
represent a name or names) on a shield or coat, but their 
crests (which are borne for cognizance or to indicate descent) 
and their mottoes are different. 

It was discovered in 1845 that another copy of Weston 
armorial bearings had been in the possession, for a great many 
years, of a related Weston family living in Maine and, con- 
sequently, it must have been brought over from England a 
long time before the copy brought over from England by Ezra 
Weston (IV). On a slip of old paper attached to the copy 
belonging to the Maine Westons the following was written: 
“It beareth Or an Eagle displayed by the name of Weston 
being granted to Richard Weston of Rugeley in the county of 
Stafford & is borne also by Sir John Weston—copy from 
Heraldry attest John Ledes Sentor Herald Painter.” 

At the commencement of my researches I had the impres- 
sion that the Richard Weston of Rugeley, mentioned on the 
slip of old paper, was Sir Richard Weston, first Baron of 
Neyland and first Earl of Portland, but I found, on further 
investigation, that Richard Weston of Rugeley was a different 
person and his crest was “An eagle’s head erased,”’ while the 
crest of Sir Richard Weston, first Baron of Neyland and first 
Karl of Portland, was “An eagle rising.” It appears that as 
the Sir John Weston mentioned on the slip of old paper bore 


the same armorial bearings as Richard Weston of Rugeley 


90 


Weston Armorial Bearings and Descent 


he was of the same branch of the Weston family as Richard 
Weston of Rugeley. Sir John Weston was Sir John Weston, 
K. B., of Hardeby Harby Manor House, who was Chamberlain 
to Queen Eleanor that was married to Edward I in October, 
1254, and who died at Sir John’s Manor House in November, 
1289. 

The copy of the armorial bearings which I have mentioned 
as being in the possession of the families of my grandfather 
and father is the same as that of Sir Richard Weston, first 
Baron of Neyland and first Earl of Portland; namely: Arms— 
“Or, an eagle displayed regardant sable;’’ Crest—‘ An eagle 
rising regardant sable, beaked and membered or;” and Motto— 


¥ 


“Craignez Honte,”’ and, therefore, indicates that our family of 
Westons may be of a junior branch of the same Weston family 
as that to which Sir Richard Weston, first Baron of Neyland 
and first Earl of Portland, belonged. 

During one of my visits to the National Gallery in London 
a number of years ago, I discovered what was apparently a 


new portrait and which was labeled:— 


“Richard Weston 
First Earl of Portland, K. G., 
Courtier, statesman and diplomatist, 
Chancellor of the Exchequer, 1621, and 
Lord High Treasurer, 1628. 


Painted in 1627 by Corneles Janssen Van Cenlen.”’ 


On inquiry I found that the portrait was a genuine old 
painting which had been touched up, reframed and recently 
presented to the National Gallery. 

After seeing the portrait I made investigations in England 


regarding it. I was somewhat misled in the first place as I 


91 


Weston Armorial Bearings and Descent 


could not find in “existing English Peerages’” an Earl of 
Portland having the name of Richard Weston, although I 
found Karls and Dukes of Portland having other names, 


‘ 


but by consulting “extinct English Peerages” I found that the 
first Harl of Portland was Sir Richard Weston who belonged 
to the historic Staffordshire family of Westons that derived 
its origin from Hamon de Weston, Lord of Weston-under- 
Lyzard, County of Stafford, during the reign of King Henry II 
(1154-1189). 

Sir Richard Weston, Knight, born in 1577 (above men- 
tioned), was employed in the reign of King James I (1603-1625) 
as ambassador to Bohemia and subsequently to Brussels to 
treat with the ambassadors of the Emperor and King of 
Spain regarding the restitution of the palatine, and soon 
after which he was constituted Chancellor of the Exchequer 
and elevated to the peerage April 18, 1628, as Baron Weston of 
Neyland. His lordship was subsequently made Lord Treas- 
urer of England, invested with the Garter and created Earl of 
Portland on February 17, 1638. The titles of nobility of 
Sir Richard Weston were granted with limitation to the heirs 
male of his body by Frances, his wife, daughter of Nicholas 
Waldegrave. The heirs male to the titles expired in 1688, 
on the death of the fourth Earl, when his estates passed to his 
nieces, the daughters of the second Earl. 

About one year after the title of the Earl of Portland 
became extinct in the Weston family William Bentinck, a 
favorite of King William III (formerly Prince of Orange), 
who came with the King from the Netherlands to England, 
was created Earl of Portland, which title has since been merged 
in that of Duke of Portland. When William Bentinck was 


92 


Weston Armorial Bearings and Descent 


made Earl of Portland in 1689 he took the Weston motto 
“Craignez Honte,’ and the Richmond Herald, College of 
Arms, London, has written me concerning the transaction to 
the effect that the only explanation he can offer is that possibly 
William Bentinck having no motto of his:own thought the 
motto ‘“Craignez Honte”’ pertained to the title of Portland 
and so assumed it. 

Sir Richard Weston, first Baron of Neyland and first Earl 
of Portland, must be distinguished from a contemporary and 
namesake, Sir Richard Weston (ce. 1579-1652), baron of the 
exchequer. Another Sir Richard Weston (c. 1466-1542) was 
a courtier and a diplomatist under Henry VIII. A third Sir 
Richard Weston (1591-1652) was mainly responsible for 
introducing locks on the River Wey and thus making it 


navigable. 
To summarize: As a result of my investigations, assisted 


by the Richmond Herald, College of Arms, London, and owing to 
the copies of the armorial bearings which have for many 
years been in the possession of the Weston families in America 
above mentioned corresponding to the armorial bearings of 
the Staffordshire Westons, it would seem that Edmund Weston 
who came to Duxbury in 1635 was quite possibly of a junior 
branch of the Staffordshire Weston family to which the Weston 
Barons of Neyland and the Earls of Portland belonged. 


EDMUND BROWNELL WESTON 
September, 1916. 


93 





































































































































































































































































































— 
=o 
Spa 
2 
< eS 
_ 
2 —_—_— 
— 
SS 
6 SSS 
2S 
—— 
—_ 
— 
— 
2 = Se 









































l 


HH 30112 12487 
itt it} PELTAT IE HH 

































































